sonlymewalter

I invent it, you sell it and Polly does the TV ads

scottishcelts

Done!

sonlymewalter

just make sure she doesn't sneak in any chipmonks or dwarfs. It's a three way split only

Pollyana

Hey, I need my publicity team! They both look better on camera than I do

sonlymewalter

yeh, but you only ever see the chipmunk - although we could get the dwarf a highchair

Pollyana

Tornadoes according to Wikipedia - lots of good info there

A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. - that link is from a US met site, but is better than most of the explanations on the BoM site

Many weather phenomena are described as tornadoes when in fact they aren't - the Microburst that hit The Gap in Brisbane a few years back was often wrongly referred to as a tornado, and I took calls this week regarding reports of a tornado near Mackay (not the event mentioned by Framac) - turned out to be just a very strong (possibly 100km/hr) gust of wind hitting a building at the wrong angle thus damaging it. People will often call events like that mini-tornadoes as it conveys the impression to others of what actually happened, even if technically its not 100% correct

For measuring them there is the Fujita Scale and the Enhanced Fujita Scale - various others exist, but Fujita/Enhanced Fujita is the one most often referred to.

Scale Estimated wind speed* Potential damage

F0 40–72 mph 64–116km/h Minor damage. Some damage to chimneys; branches broken off trees; shallow-rooted trees pushed over; sign boards damaged.
F1 73–112 mph 117–180km/h Moderate damage. The lower limit is the beginning of hurricane wind speed; peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off the roads; attached garages may be destroyed.
F2 113–157 mph 181–253km/h Considerable damage. Roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars overturned; large trees snapped or uprooted; highrise windows broken and blown in; light-object missiles generated
F3 158–206 mph 254–332km/h Critical damage. Roofs and some walls torn off well-constructed houses; most trees in forest uprooted; skyscrapers twisted and deformed with massive destruction of exteriors; heavy cars lifted off the ground and thrown.
F4 207–260 mph 333–418km/h Severe damage. Well-constructed houses leveled; structures with weak foundations blown away some distance; trains overturned; cars thrown and large missiles generated. Skyscrapers and highrises toppled and destroyed.
F5 261–318 mph 419–512km/h Devastating damage. Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate; automobile sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 m (109 yd); trees debarked; steel reinforced concrete structures badly damaged.

sonlymewalter

can I read it when I've sobered up miss

actually, maybe not

scottishcelts

Damn it - so no room for an invention then?

Pollyana

I have some nice purple cushions to put on the seat and raise him up a little

I'm just addicted

Noooo, might have to think again! Although if you decided to measure the levels of tornado slightly differently and came up with a new naming scheme you might capture the imagination and get famous for it.
There's one called the Torro Scale which was developed in the UK as an off-shoot of the Beaufort Scale (thats what they use for measuring gales - Force 5, Force 6 etc). Not used as widely as Fujita but it is referred to at times.
If you look at Fujita, they describe an F5 as 419–512km/h Devastating damage. Strong frame houses lifted off foundations and carried considerable distances to disintegrate. Torro uses T10, 433 - 482 km/h,Entire frame houses and similar buildings lifted bodily from foundations and carried some distances.. Similar but different

So you could invent the SC69 as the top of the scale, washing scattered to adjacent continents, arriving immigrants blown back to point of departure, bridges collapsed burying trolls, unopened bottles shattered, dwarves blown into cyber-space, clothes ripped from hunky male bodies..........might catch on, you never know!

moneypenny20

Let's face it, who gives a toss what it was, the people involved just know that they had some bloody heavy weather and destruction followed.

framac67

Naw, thats part o my syche noo.

sonlymewalter

and that's why you're passionate & good at it mate

framac67

Angie drove past the harbour rd today (scene of the tornado) and said there were roofs off houses and a hotel and every tree for about 200 yards had been snapped like twigs.

Pollyana

Passionate definitely I'll leave others to judge whether I'm good at it though I certainly couldn't try any harder!

Looks like its being referred to as a "whirlwind" originating in a storm cell. Yes, centred in the Harbour road area, lines down, fences down, iron off roofs. Sound like it was a very small area affected, fortunately.

scottishcelts

Na, nae whirlwind, nae tornado, and nae cyclone - it wiz Franny skitin aboot in his bogan mobile.