David Viner Gets It Wrong Again
By Paul Homewood
He had us all falling about in our seats with his epic “snow is just a thing of the past” routine.
And we were rolling around on the floor when he claimed that “continental tourists would be flocking to Blackpool for their holidays to enjoy the mediterranean climate there.”
So it will come as no surprise to find that our favourite junk scientist came up with this gem back in 2006, in the Guardian:
Dr Viner added that Britain could experience more dramatic and unpredictable weather in the future, including tornados.
“We saw a tornado in Birmingham last year and I think generally we are likely to see an increase in localised, unforecastable and unpredictable weather.
Wow, tornadoes!!
Fortunately, we have the ever sensible meteorologist, Philip Eden, to tell us the real story. From the Sunday Telegraph:
Unfortunately, the Telegraph never put his articles on line, but he points out that, back in the 1950’s most meteorologists did not believe that tornadoes occurred in Britain. He goes on.
According to the TORRO website, the UK gets about 35 to 40 tornadoes a year, but this number will increase “with the improved communications and a growing network of TORRO reporters.”
It is also worth pointing out that, according to NOAA, “In fact, the United Kingdom has more tornadoes, relative to its land area, than any other country. Fortunately, most UK tornadoes are relatively weak.”
So, next time you hear a junk scientists making up claims about tornadoes, suggest that they check the facts first
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
35-40? I guess if you do not mind the soggy weather, the British Isles are a pretty nice place to live. And I see why their first colony was in Virginia. That is about how many we get a year as well.
I remember one in around 1966 in Balquhidder, Perthshire. I watched it demolish a cattle shed about a couple of hundred yards from our house.
Here are UK tornadoes in the literature.
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF TORNADOES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 1960–1982
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1477-8696.1984.tb06727.x/abstract
Forecasting tornadoes in the United Kingdom
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169809503000838
Here is an outbreak worth noting.
“The United Kingdom (U.K.) experiences 15 days, on average, each year when the synoptic and meteorological conditions produce tornadoes. A single tornado may form on some days but on other days the conditions may give rise to a large outbreak of tornadoes. For example, on 23 November 1981, an outbreak of 105 tornadoes occurred across England and Wales during the 6-h passage of a very active cold front attached to a very rapid deepening depression. On average the U.K. experiences 33 tornadoes each year but the annual total has varied from only 11 tornadoes in 1989 to 152 tornadoes in 1981. ”
http://www.essl.org/ECSS/2002/abstracts/78.htm
Having moved to the (American) Northeast after growing up in Kansas, I get questioned about tornadoes a few times a year. After all, Dorothy flew to Oz in one, so obviously they’re pretty common, right?
I usually joke a bit, but try to work in the fact that in 30 years I never saw one, & that if you’re more than a couple of miles from the thing, you’ll never see it. Though I still don’t think I’m going to be moving to Xenia, OH any time soon.
I moved there – the year after it was devastated. Lived 2 years in Dayton – never saw one. The closest I have been to seeing one is here in the Old Dominion. It touched down about a 1/4 mile from me. But the trees obstructed any chance of viewing it.
Check the facts? Kidding, I suppose. The LAST thing AGW theologists do is connect with reality.
Any relation to Katharine Viner, current editor-in-chief of the online Guardian Australia? The lady who successfully negotiated with our ABC to run the recent “spying on Indonesia” story based on the Snowden leaked documents.
I guess they don’t include meteorology in the climatology curriculum.