Tornadoes in Bermuda
Encyclopedia
The island country of Bermuda
has been affected by several tornado
es and waterspout
s in its history.
. Beginning as a waterspout, it moved into the Ireland Island
Dock Yard. The Ormonde, a ship docked there, was nearly capsized, and the ship's barometer
recorded an instantaneous drop of 4 mb. Moving onto land as a tornado, the vortex damaged roofs, sheds, and fences as it tore across the island. Interestingly, an office in the ship yard which contained another weather station
was also struck—the barometer there recorded a drop of 6 mb. The damage path was approximately 300 yards across.
.
. There were other reports of tornadoes that turned out to be straight line winds from severe thunderstorms at Devonshire Bay, where trees were snapped and a fence was reported to have been knocked over.
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
has been affected by several tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
es and waterspout
Waterspout
A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water and is connected to a cumuliform cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water. While it is often weaker than most of its land counterparts, stronger versions spawned by mesocyclones do occur...
s in its history.
December 1925 tornado
In the early hours of December 12, 1925 a weak tornado affected Ireland IslandIreland Island, Bermuda
Ireland Island is the northwesternmost island in the chain which comprises Bermuda. It forms a long finger of land pointing northeastwards from the main island, the last link in a chain which also includes Boaz Island and Somerset Island. It lies within Sandys Parish, and forms the northwestern...
. Beginning as a waterspout, it moved into the Ireland Island
Dock Yard. The Ormonde, a ship docked there, was nearly capsized, and the ship's barometer
Barometer
A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...
recorded an instantaneous drop of 4 mb. Moving onto land as a tornado, the vortex damaged roofs, sheds, and fences as it tore across the island. Interestingly, an office in the ship yard which contained another weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
was also struck—the barometer there recorded a drop of 6 mb. The damage path was approximately 300 yards across.
Easter tornadoes of 1953
Four tornadoes caused major damage on April 5, 1953. One person was killed by flying debrisDebris
Debris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...
.
January 1986 tornadoes
On January 12, 1986, two tornadoes struck the north and south shores of the Main Island. The first one, which touched down near Devonshire, caused significant damage as it cut across the island. The second tornado affected St. David's, on the north shore, less than two hours later. Several boats were sunk by the two twisters as they moved over water.December 2009
On December 19th, 2009, a tornado touched down in downtown Hamilton, Pembroke parish. It created a swath of damage from Pitt's Bay road to First Avenue in the Cavendish Heights area of Pembroke. Hardest hit areas included the commercial areas of Reid Street from Queen Street to Court Street, and parts of Bermudiana Road. Automated recording stations on Hinson's Island reported a wind gust of 64 kn (77.9 mph; 125.4 km/h). Although there were no reports of serious injuries, there was significant tree and roof damage, and the tornado was estimated to be an EF1 or EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita ScaleEnhanced Fujita Scale
The Enhanced Fujita Scale rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States based on the damage they cause.Implemented in place of the Fujita scale introduced in 1971 by Ted Fujita, it began operational use on February 1, 2007. The scale has the same basic design as the original Fujita scale:...
. There were other reports of tornadoes that turned out to be straight line winds from severe thunderstorms at Devonshire Bay, where trees were snapped and a fence was reported to have been knocked over.