Forgive my stupidity, but I didn't know y'all got tornados in England. I thought the climate there wasn't right for them.

well <says the Mullah gleefully at having been proved right after all these years> back before the global environment was destroyed by selfish and inconsiderate pollution, the chances of a tornado in the British isles were about as high as a fish riding a bicycle or a dinosaur walking into the local supermarket to do his weekly shop. However thanks to that phenomenon that some people still (stupidly) insist isn't happening, global warming, we've had two (yes two) tornadoes in two years.

would anyone care to argue with me that global warming and climate change isn't happening? please go right ahead, i love it when people try to defend the indefensible. Bear in mind that i will be showing pictures of valleys that were glaciers a few years ago and of mountains that don't have any more snow and polar bears that died of drowning cos they didn't have any more ice to live on, because <gasp> it melted. Just in case you thought my evidence might not be particularly convincing re: global warming.

You'll get no argument from me Taw, I just need to look out of the window to see the results. I live in Scotland and it's December, yet I still haven't seen a frost this winter. It's done nothing but piss with rain for weeks now, I'd rather freeze my nuts off than get flooded, if this keeps up it's going to be a very soggy winter.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

too right. it's going to bucket down till New Year then the Met Office is predicting the worst blizzards for years so much for Britain having a climate like the south of France; the irony of global warming is that over here in W Euope we'll prob go into deep freeze. Good job me and the wife plan to live in the sun when the kids leave home. A little farmhouse just overlooking Florence will suit me just fine

Funny, my parents plan to retire to Italy as well. Bought and restored a little(ish) place near Ancona. Weather should be roundabout normal British weather, I imagine.

Meh, i generally agree with the idea of global warming, but to be honest - it's not Global warming that gave us the Tornado over here, they've always existed with the meeting of cold/warm fronts. Indeed, we get more than the USA apparently

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/hottopics/ ... anes.shtml


Just that it is particularly warm for this time of year, BUT we can also get exceedingly cold quick from the north/east as well.

If anything, due to this warmth and the ability for very cold cold fronts coming in, shouldn't we get more?

I agree with global warming occuring, but lets face it - the summer just gone we've managed to break records for temps set in the 1920's...

There is always unusal variation around

true, but there's an awful lot more of it and it's getting more extreme. when unusual starts becoming common, that's the time to worry.

TET - whereabouts near Ancona? I know that coastline quite well, Ancona, Senigallia, Fano, Pesaro, Riccione, Rimini, Ravenna, and of course it's only a short drive to the delightful jewel of Urbino and the duty-free pleasures of San Marino. And if one feels up to it, a beautiful if rather challenging drive through the Marche into Tuscany. I like the Marche myself, many people don't because it's rather rural with windy mountainous roads.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 12/7/2006 3:34:17 PM

You all got in a hit, what we get here in Ga. 100 times as much. About 10 miles away from me, we call the area Tornado Ally. Hard to believe people want to have trailers there.

@Fd:

What do you think trailer parks are for? They're put outside town limits to draw the tornados away from the towns ... don'tcha know.

*ahem*

US Tornado stats, past four years The US gets over 1,000 tornado strikes a year. The UK has about 33 per year but, in relative terms of total land area, that 33 per annum projects to the highest frequency in the world. Most UK tornadoes, however, are not as destructively intense. On November 23, 1981, however, over 100 tornadoes occurred in the UK due to the passage of a particularly strong cold front that passed over the country.

@Taw

It's in the Marche region, yes, part of the "Verdicchio wine region"... whatever that is. Close to Jesi and about 25 minutes from Ancona airport. Not too close to Urbino though, it's about 90 minutes' drive.

It's rather remote, in the mountains/hills.

It's a real money sink so parents have taken to letting it out during the summer months.

really? you simply must contact me on the secure channel to Tawakalnistan as I'm extremely interested in finding a place to stay in the region for next year for a few weeks. Much as i love the Italian cities, they're dreadfully expensive and full of tourists and you just can't move for the crowds, so somewhere more remote is exactly what I'm looking for, and I do like the Marche and the Abruzzi and the wilder parts of Umbria.

The region is known for it's famous Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi which is a very light dry white best served with fish or shellfish but rather delightful by itself, too. It's often sold in an amphora-shaped bottle like this
- a marketing ploy thunked up in the 1950's, but it's a very pleasant tipple if one were to drink alcohol which unfortunately one doesn't anymore.

Now Taw, I won't argue that it's happening. Anyone that argues that is talking out of their ass. However, wether or not we're what's causing it is still an open question.

I'm glad I live next to a mountain so tornadoes can't form.

The politically correct terminology is Climate Change according to our gummmint.

Whatever, it is a fact that the north polar ice cap continues to shrink... That the Antarctic 's ice shelves are shrinking and the Larsen B shelf is collapsing... that the glaciers in the high mountain ranges around the world are melting.

The loss of ice mass around the globe is indication that the global temperatures are rising overall.

The general question boils down to whether we humans are contributing to a natural trend of warming or causing it all by ourselves. I tend to think we are contributing but that contribution is significant enough that we actually are accelerating the trend.