London tornado of 1903

the 1903 London tornado was a large, and deadly F5 tornado that reportedly caused great loss of life and destruction near the city of London on September 6, 1903.

The damage was described as the worst in the London area since the tornado of 1091, and received a rating of F5 in 2010, roughly equivalent to a T10 or T11.

Meteorological setup
In late August and early September of 1903, a significant heat wave impacted much of the British Isles and France, and this heat wave continued into September 6.

That afternoon, temperatures in London were around 35-40°C (95-105°F), and extremely muggy conditions were noted. Sheets of rain and thunder were reported coming down in Ascot at 3:35 p.m local time, as temperatures had dropped to 15-20°C (60-70°F) in Ascot.

However, muggy conditions and likely wind shear around 5,000 J/kg allowed a probable supercell thunderstorm to spin up a tornado at 3:45 p.m, 3 kilometers (2 miles) northeast of Ascot. The tornado crossed modern-day London Road less than a minute after touchdown, and began to grow in size and cause heavy damage to trees. It hit a house at around 3:50 p.m, killing 3 people and causing near-F5 damage.

The tornado proceeded through wooded areas, uprooting hundreds, if not thousands of trees, while damaging little amounts of structures. 20-30 hikers were killed in the tornado, and another 40 were feared dead. By the time the tornado exited wooded areas, it was nearly 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) wide, few people spotted the tornado, indicating it was likely rain-wrapped. The tornado was now in residential areas, and was causing F3-F5 damage, a row of houses was completely obliterated, with nearly 100 people dying in one neighborhood alone.

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