Tornados!

["couldbecousin"]

Scandinavia is too social-democratic for tornadoes

in serious speaking, for whateeever reason (not going into politics/climate-debate) tornado-like phenomena are becoming more common on our side of the Atlantic, and Iberia (Portugal+Spain) experienced some two or three years ago

  Take cover!    Watch out for flying lutefisk!    

[odeon]

I'm guessing our terrain makes it difficult for them to form.

[DirtDawg]

  Anyone here have a tornado    or a tornado warning near home?

Yup.
Tornado south of Indy, a couple of days ago. I am way north of all that.

[DirtDawg]

I'm guessing our terrain makes it difficult for them to form.

I would think so, but even the foothills of mountainous regions east of The Rocky Mountains in Colorado experience a great many tornadoes.

I think the Great Plains of North America are perfect areas for tornadoes to form. Enough said.

I know Australia has very large flat areas as well and I would suspect "unstable" atmospheric conditions during their transition from cold weather to warm. I wonder if one of our upside down "friends"  could chime in. I would bet they have some tornadoes in that region of the globe as well.

['andersom']

They happen here, but most are weak, too weak to get the name tornado, they get the name "windhoos". Big ones are very rare where I live.

[ZEGH8578]

I'm guessing our terrain makes it difficult for them to form.

Isn't it mostly about oceanic currents/wind directions?
Tornados form in the Atlantic ocean, and move westwards
Typhoons form in the Pacific ocean, and move westwards as well, as in, towards Asia

Maybe very simpled down, but that's how I understand it

["couldbecousin"]

I'm guessing our terrain makes it difficult for them to form.

Isn't it mostly about oceanic currents/wind directions?
Tornados form in the Atlantic ocean, and move westwards
Typhoons form in the Pacific ocean, and move westwards as well, as in, towards Asia

Maybe very simpled down, but that's how I understand it

  http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/6/tornado-twister-hurricane-cyclone-typhoon-whats-the-difference/

[ZEGH8578]

I'm guessing our terrain makes it difficult for them to form.

Isn't it mostly about oceanic currents/wind directions?
Tornados form in the Atlantic ocean, and move westwards
Typhoons form in the Pacific ocean, and move westwards as well, as in, towards Asia

Maybe very simpled down, but that's how I understand it

  http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/6/tornado-twister-hurricane-cyclone-typhoon-whats-the-difference/

And yes, together they are cyclones, and we do indeed have next-to-no cyclone type storms in Europe. It's not impossible to happen, but extremely rare (because they tend to move from centre Atlantic, towards North America, not Europe)

2013 Atlantic cyclone summary, shows a nice behavioral pattern

[Al Swearegen]

I'm guessing our terrain makes it difficult for them to form.

Isn't it mostly about oceanic currents/wind directions?
Tornados form in the Atlantic ocean, and move westwards
Typhoons form in the Pacific ocean, and move westwards as well, as in, towards Asia

Maybe very simpled down, but that's how I understand it

  http://media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/6/tornado-twister-hurricane-cyclone-typhoon-whats-the-difference/

And yes, together they are cyclones, and we do indeed have next-to-no cyclone type storms in Europe. It's not impossible to happen, but extremely rare (because they tend to move from centre Atlantic, towards North America, not Europe)

2013 Atlantic cyclone summary, shows a nice behavioral pattern

[WolFish]

There was a warning in Western MA back when I used to live there. They rarely happen there. I had to go to work and at one point the wind was bad enough that I pulled off the road to wait it out. I am not sure one actually formed.

[Walkie]

No twisters in Europe? Depends where in Europe you live, it seems:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33136737

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Birmingham_tornado

An aspie lady from Kansas put me onto this, many years ago. I was telling her that I'd seen things that look like twisters ( but i thougHt we didn't have twisters in Britain) and she said that yeah, our tornado alley in England actually has just as many twisters per square mile, per year as her tonado alley.   tHE ONLY Difference is that ours are weaker and less destructive...usually - see pics of tornado damage in BIrmingham, UK.  I rembember that one.  It came shortly after that conversation IIRC (talk of the devil!  ) and did quite a lot of damage round my way (I live pretty close to Birmingham).

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I'm pretty sure that we don't get many serious twisters here. I've been in Southern Queensland a couple of times when what has been described as a "mini cyclone" comes through at night, that seemed like a much milder version of the twisters that hit the US. I've seen one fairly large dust devil and a couple of water spouts well offshore, that's about it.

[odeon]

We get a few very minor ones along the coast here. They seldom do much harm.

[Charlotte Quin]

I'm pretty sure that we don't get many serious twisters here. I've been in Southern Queensland a couple of times when what has been described as a "mini cyclone" comes through at night, that seemed like a much milder version of the twisters that hit the US. I've seen one fairly large dust devil and a couple of water spouts well offshore, that's about it.

I think they can be mostly described as micro-bursts. Like the one that happened in Bargara/Bundaberg a few years ago. We definitely never get any mile wide funnels like they do in the US.
Locally I had a mini one nearby just this past November which tore the roofs off a few houses.

I'm guessing our terrain makes it difficult for them to form.

I would think so, but even the foothills of mountainous regions east of The Rocky Mountains in Colorado experience a great many tornadoes.

I think the Great Plains of North America are perfect areas for tornadoes to form. Enough said.

I know Australia has very large flat areas as well and I would suspect "unstable" atmospheric conditions during their transition from cold weather to warm. I wonder if one of our upside down "friends"  could chime in. I would bet they have some tornadoes in that region of the globe as well.

Not in NSW at least. The flatter the country gets the more uneventful the weather I've found. All the flattest parts of the country remain relatively dry, even through summer storm season.