Extreme Weather: Tornadoes!

Hello again!  This week is going to a be a little different because I'm going to be focusing on tornadoes in Germany.  Yes, I said Germany.

First off, tornadoes known to be one of nature's most violent and destructive natural processes (305).  Tornadoes can go by different names like twisters or cyclones.  Although, cyclones are more closely related to hurricanes.  Tornadoes form where there are large differences in the atmospheric over a short distance; in easier terms, it's a spinning column of strong winds.  They get classified by the intensity and damage that is produced along its path with the Enhanced Fujita or the EF Scale (306).

Well, Germany is no stranger to tornadoes, although they're not extremely common either.  A 2016 study of European tornadoes found that roughly 1,108 tornadoes have been reported in Germany from the mid 19th century to 2005.  IT's quite a long time lapse, but that's still a decent amount of tornadoes. The majority of Germany's tornadoes occur in the heat and humidity of summer, but winter tornadoes aren't necessarily rare over northern Europe.

May 5th, 2015 tornado in Germany

Germany experienced a pretty neat phenomena on March 9th this year.  It was a more minor tornado but it was accompanied with a rainbow right off to the side of it.  This occurred in Kuernach, Germany.  It did, however, cause some damage.  More than 50 homes were damaged, several trees had fallen over, and 20 to 30 roofs were blown off.  Luckily, no injuries were reported.  In a situation as rare as this one, it is believed that the vigorous upper level disturbance may have provided enough spin and instability, or a very cold air aloft, to trigger a single thunderstorm spawning a ghost like tornado and a rainbow.

Almost a year prior to the tornado and rainbow duo, Germany experienced twin tornadoes on the 6th of June of 2016 in Schleswig-Holstein.

For the most part, Germany seems to get is fair share of tornadoes every year.  Roughly 4 to 10 tornadoes a year are reported in Germany.  Germany appears to be near the heart of Europe's stronger "tornado alley."  Tornado activity is at its maximum in July and its minimum from November to February in Germany.  The highest tornado Germany has experienced was an F4 on the F Scale.  Clearly tornadoes are less common in Europe as opposed to the United States.  Studies have calculated that roughly 300 tornadoes strike Europe a year while approximately 1,200 tornadoes strike the US every year.  Luckily, I live in California where i have yet to experience a tornado myself!


Sources:

https://weather.com/storms/tornado/news/tornado-rainbow-germany-march-9-2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/06/07/video-dramatic-and-extremely-rare-twin-tornadoes-strike-germany/?utm_term=.8d90f1cc539a

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001AtmRe..56..233D

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodget. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.