Weather extremes of 2004- 19th-21st March Midlands severe gales and the Filkins tornado

An extremely windy and disturbed weather pattern ensued during the weekend of the 20th March. A mobile westerly flow covered the UK, with deep secondary lows sweeping across the country atop a strong Azores anticyclone (above 1035 mb). Forecasters warned of gale force winds and possible structural damage for the weekend, as behind one of the lows the pressure gradient was to tighten further.

On the 19^th wet and very windy weather spread across the UK, winds gusted up to 70 mph in places and Capel Curig recorded 35mm rainfall.

It was on the 20^th that gales really began to batter the UK, with the SW, Wales, Central & North England and East Anglia worst affected. There were locally severe gales along exposed coastlines and gales inland causing many problems. Power lines were brought down in the Northwest disrupting rail networks and road incidents were widespread, at Uttoxeter racecourse the meeting was cancelled after a marquee was lifted into the air, and league football games at Stoke and Burnley had to be postponed on safety grounds due to the daytime gales. The table below shows the widespread and extremely high winds experienced across the UK.

Station	Mean Speed	Gust
Aberporth	48KT	65KT
Lake Vrynwy	42KT	n/a
Shawbury, Shropshire	39KT	60KT
Leeming, Nth Yorkshire	38KT	58KT
Crosby	38KT	51KT
Pembry	38KT	53KT
Dishforth	37KT	54KT
Wittering	37KT	54KT
Donna Nook	36KT	52KT
Cranwell	35KT	48KT
Cottesmore	35KT	53KT
Carlisle	34KT	45KT

During the afternoon, the area of strongest winds transferred eastwards wreaking further chaos as it did so. In rural parts of East Anglia and Lincolnshire the top soil was dried, lifted off the fields and blown into the air by the gales causing reduced visibility. This effect is known as a ‘Fen Blow’ which is associated with very strong winds and dry soil and can often lead to heavy soil loss and be disastrous for farmers. Lakenheath among other stations reported widespread dust, as the top gusts reached 78 mph at Cottesmore! Despite the gale force winds it was a mild day across the UK with Coningsby managing to reach 17C.

The following day continuing the unsettled and disturbed theme a rather active cell developed over Oxfordshire and is thought to have spawned a destructive tornado right next to the village of Filkins. To see a full report written by Brendan Jones on this extraordinary event you can follows the link here:

38KT