ST. CLEMENT, England – Amid the chaos of hurricane-force winds, massive hail and torrential rain that swept across northern Europe during last week’s deadly Storm Ciarán, one of the strongest tornadoes on record in the U.K. tore through the small island town of St. Clement, researchers have determined.
Ciarán had already blasted northern France with 110-129 mph wind gusts as the storm center moved into the English Channel Wednesday night. But around midnight, the intense low-pressure center spawned a severe thunderstorm that not only brought frequent lightning and large hail but also triggered a massive tornado.
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Researchers with the U.K.’s Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) went to Jersey Island to survey the damage and found a strong tornado cut a 5-mile-long path across the eastern end of Jersey, leaving severe damage in its wake.
The agency, which uses the 10-point International Tornado Intensity Scale to rate tornadoes instead of the Enhanced Fujita Scale used in the U.S., determined the twister warranted a T6 rating out of a possible T10. That classifies the tornado as “moderately devastating” with estimated peak winds of 161-186 mph – about on par with an EF-4 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
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Of those who might have experienced the tornado were a St. Clement mother and her infant daughter, whose story went viral on social media when the mother’s baby monitor captured her pulling her baby from her bassinet moments before their bedroom window shattered as the storm raged outside.
“I could just hear something coming closer. This really loud wind and, it just didn’t sound right,” O’Reilly told FOX Weather. “And it kind of came closer and closer and closer. I just knew I had to get my baby out of there. And that’s when all the glass just came smashing in. And it was pretty scary.” Luckily, neither was hurt.
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TORRO says this tornado will rate as one of the strongest ever recorded in the U.K., besting the T5/6 tornado that struck Birmingham, U.K., in 2005 and the strongest since the West London T7 tornado of December 1954.
In addition, hailstones of nearly 2 inches in diameter – about golf ball-sized – were the largest found on Jersey since the summer of 1983.
Storm Ciarán ended up killing 14 people and leaving several more injured across multiple northern European countries.
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