Significant Tornado Events - Global Edition

picturesoftrickery · May 19, 2026

I recently embarked on a project of digging through newspaper archives to map out the path of the 1931 Birmingham, UK tornado.

It took about a week, but I’ve come up with a map of every location mentioned in the newspapers (there was a very significant amount of coverage).

The tornado was a major disaster in the city and made headlines nationwide, even featuring in the New York Times, and in rural American newspapers.

TORRO gave this tornado a rating of T6-7 or F3, and by the damage I have seen photographed and described, I would say this is a fair assessment.

I’ll be making a visit to Birmingham’s City Archive soon to see more photographs and documents and hopefully plot out a more thorough map.

I’ll attach links to the current map and my writeup of the event so please do have a look

The Birmingham tornado of June 14, 1931

The Birmingham tornado of June 14, 1931 Intensity: F3, likely IF3 - TORRO T6-7 Path start: approx. 52.420056, -1.859222 Path end: approx 52.5442, -1.8399 Length: Approx 8.5 miles Width: Approx 0.4-0.6 miles Fatalities: 1 Injuries: 11-15 Sunday, June 14, 1931 was forecast to be “Rather warm wit...

docs.google.com

Birmingham 1931 - https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1bt-01GoOk-WRYQrsTLn9rnsIQqgr7Uc&usp=sharing

Sawmaster · May 19, 2026

picturesoftrickery said:
I recently embarked on a project of digging through newspaper archives to map out the path of the 1931 Birmingham, UK tornado.

It took about a week, but I’ve come up with a map of every location mentioned in the newspapers (there was a very significant amount of coverage).

The tornado was a major disaster in the city and made headlines nationwide, even featuring in the New York Times, and in rural American newspapers.

TORRO gave this tornado a rating of T6-7 or F3, and by the damage I have seen photographed and described, I would say this is a fair assessment.

I’ll be making a visit to Birmingham’s City Archive soon to see more photographs and documents and hopefully plot out a more thorough map.

I’ll attach links to the current map and my writeup of the event so please do have a look

The Birmingham tornado of June 14, 1931

The Birmingham tornado of June 14, 1931 Intensity: F3, likely IF3 - TORRO T6-7 Path start: approx. 52.420056, -1.859222 Path end: approx 52.5442, -1.8399 Length: Approx 8.5 miles Width: Approx 0.4-0.6 miles Fatalities: 1 Injuries: 11-15 Sunday, June 14, 1931 was forecast to be “Rather warm wit...

docs.google.com

Birmingham 1931 - https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1bt-01GoOk-WRYQrsTLn9rnsIQqgr7Uc&usp=sharing

Quite the well written article! With some pics placed where they're relevant this would be top-level publishing.
I do have to wonder if the storm might have cycled at Bordesley Green, which might explain some thinking it was one and some thinking two tornadoes. I did have to look up "Chimney pot" as that term isn't used here in the USA.
Cheers!

picturesoftrickery · May 19, 2026

Sawmaster said:
Quite the well written article! With some pics placed where they're relevant this would be top-level publishing.
I do have to wonder if the storm might have cycled at Bordesley Green, which might explain some thinking it was one and some thinking two tornadoes. I did have to look up "Chimney pot" as that term isn't used here in the USA.
Cheers!

Thank you very much for your kind words.

I myself am also questioning whether a cycle may have taken place in Bordesley Green. The next damage spot is slightly to the left of where you’d think it’d be. Either that or the tornado dramatically weakened on passing Bordesley.

I’ve decided to take your advice and add a few photographs, 3 or 4. My full collection of photographs is in a separate google doc, I’ll link below.

1931 images

docs.google.com

A Guy · May 20, 2026

picturesoftrickery said:
I actually recently did a “big dig” into this tornado. I agree that it probably reached IF4 intensity. I’ll attach my summary of findings.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-hhwe4Zyrfzp0wN7KlBoMSpwCUDy39Ki-SlYwLJCQL4/edit?usp=drivesdk

IMO it doesn't sound quite that intense, with the descriptions mainly limited to roof loss and partial collapse. Photos I can find in a quick search (such as here or here) look consistent with damage in the F2 to minimal F3 range.

picturesoftrickery · May 20, 2026

A Guy said:
IMO it doesn't sound quite that intense, with the descriptions mainly limited to roof loss and partial collapse. Photos I can find in a quick search (such as here or here) look consistent with damage in the F2 to minimal F3 range.

The worst structural damage of the tornado at Fairview Terrace could warrant IF4 using the international fujita scale- a stone-built terrace with double or triple wythe walls, 3 of the loadbearing walls on the upper storey collapsed with the stronger party wall remaining, and a partial wall collapse on the lower storey. This *could* warrant damage indicator BS:E DoD 1B.

Also the near total destruction of Beechgrove Chapel, although contextual damage in this area is lacklustre.

Another incredible feat of this tornado was the lofting of mature trees. In one case a mature tree was lofted 80 yards, in another case a 4 ton section of oak tree was lofted 1/4 mile, and a large section of ash tree was reportedly thrown 2.5 miles (dubious on that particular instance). Numerous trees in the area surrounding Abercynon were “stripped of their bark”.

In another instance, a “massive” wooden-truss bridge was struck, snapping the baulks and rotating the entire bridge body several feet out of place.

Definitely at the very least high-end F3 (which is the official rating per TORRO)

TH2002 · May 20, 2026

A Guy said:
IMO it doesn't sound quite that intense, with the descriptions mainly limited to roof loss and partial collapse. Photos I can find in a quick search (such as here or here) look consistent with damage in the F2 to minimal F3 range.

You have to remember that European masonry structures are much more resistant to tornadic winds than wooden-framed structures often seen in North America, Japan and some other countries (I don't know what the situation is in Australia).

The damage to Fairview Terrace alone is well into the F3 range... definitely not F2. While I think high-end F3 is fine, I could see an argument for low-end F4 given the sturdiness of the structure.

picturesoftrickery · May 21, 2026

I’ve been continuing my research into tornadoes in the United Kingdom.
I came across a cluster of tornado events that occurred in the spring and early summer of 1968.

Earlier that year, in January, had come the devastating “Hurricane Low Q”, an extratropical cyclone that struck the Central Belt of Scotland, and had hit Glasgow particularly hard. 250,000 buildings were damaged by the storm.

In April, the first tornado event, in Coventry and surrounding villages. A small thunderstorm produced a damaging tornado which struck the Potters Green district, before moving onto the village of Barnacle. I’ll photographs of this tornado in particular.

The next event came on June 28, 25 miles west of Coventry in Birmingham, and it’s surrounding Black Country, located in Worcestershire.

First a tornado (or series of tornadoes) tracked 14 miles from Bewdley, through Kidderminster, and into Halesowen, causing pockets of moderate damage.

The storm then likely cycled, meanwhile producing flash flooding in Birmingham, and at around 3:30, a second tornado developed in the California neighbourhood of western Birmingham, tearing off roofs and uprooting trees, before moving through Weoley Castle into Selly Oak, where it tossed around cars at the University of Birmingham, before dissipating.

A third brief tornado associated with a second thunderstorm occurred north of tornado 1’s path.

You can read more about it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cuq1FsjkHzCfcMnoBzoPmTmQLQPuIFEA_iFbu_XNW7M/edit?usp=drivesdk

Otherwise, hope you enjoyed the read, and the Coventry tornado photos.

TornadoesUK · May 22, 2026

picturesoftrickery said:
I’ve been continuing my research into tornadoes in the United Kingdom.
I came across a cluster of tornado events that occurred in the spring and early summer of 1968.

Earlier that year, in January, had come the devastating “Hurricane Low Q”, an extratropical cyclone that struck the Central Belt of Scotland, and had hit Glasgow particularly hard. 250,000 buildings were damaged by the storm.

In April, the first tornado event, in Coventry and surrounding villages. A small thunderstorm produced a damaging tornado which struck the Potters Green district, before moving onto the village of Barnacle. I’ll photographs of this tornado in particular.

The next event came on June 28, 25 miles west of Coventry in Birmingham, and it’s surrounding Black Country, located in Worcestershire.

First a tornado (or series of tornadoes) tracked 14 miles from Bewdley, through Kidderminster, and into Halesowen, causing pockets of moderate damage.

The storm then likely cycled, meanwhile producing flash flooding in Birmingham, and at around 3:30, a second tornado developed in the California neighbourhood of western Birmingham, tearing off roofs and uprooting trees, before moving through Weoley Castle into Selly Oak, where it tossed around cars at the University of Birmingham, before dissipating.

A third brief tornado associated with a second thunderstorm occurred north of tornado 1’s path.

You can read more about it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cuq1FsjkHzCfcMnoBzoPmTmQLQPuIFEA_iFbu_XNW7M/edit?usp=drivesdk

Otherwise, hope you enjoyed the read, and the Coventry tornado photos.

There were also strong tornadic events in England in 1966.

On 16 October, a T4-5 (Mid range F2) tornado struck north-eastern suburbs of Oxford, England. It started off weak, causing minor tile/garage damage, before reaching a prefab-housing estate. Here, around 6 prefabs were destroyed/thrown and 2 people were injured.

Later on in the year, 2 large (for the UK) tornado outbreaks struck across large regions of England. On 15th November 1966, around 19 tornadoes struck various regions of England, two of which were particularly strong.

The worst event was a brief tornado that struck near Leicester City Centre, it formed near the railway station and tracked towards the Highfields area. The tornado quickly strengthened to F2 intensity just as it hit a secondary school, where a large portion of the church tower + roof collapsed in on students and teachers, resulting in 29 injuries including 24 students. Afterwards, the tornado weakened significantly to around low end F1 intensity, causing minor damage to surrounding residential areas.

Another F2 tornado that day hit Watlington, Norfolk

A larger but weaker outbreak also occurred on 1 December 1966:

picturesoftrickery · May 23, 2026

TornadoesUK said:
There were also strong tornadic events in England in 1966.

On 16 October, a T4-5 (Mid range F2) tornado struck north-eastern suburbs of Oxford, England. It started off weak, causing minor tile/garage damage, before reaching a prefab-housing estate. Here, around 6 prefabs were destroyed/thrown and 2 people were injured.View attachment 53020 View attachment 53022 View attachment 53023 View attachment 53024

Later on in the year, 2 large (for the UK) tornado outbreaks struck across large regions of England. On 15th November 1966, around 19 tornadoes struck various regions of England, two of which were particularly strong.
View attachment 53030

The worst event was a brief tornado that struck near Leicester City Centre, it formed near the railway station and tracked towards the Highfields area. The tornado quickly strengthened to F2 intensity just as it hit a secondary school, where a large portion of the church tower + roof collapsed in on students and teachers, resulting in 29 injuries including 24 students. Afterwards, the tornado weakened significantly to around low end F1 intensity, causing minor damage to surrounding residential areas. View attachment 53027 View attachment 53028

Another F2 tornado that day hit Watlington, Norfolk
View attachment 53029
A larger but weaker outbreak also occurred on 1 December 1966:
View attachment 53031

very interesting! I’ll have to take a look at the newspaper reports of these events.

Significant Tornado Events - Global Edition

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The Birmingham tornado of June 14, 1931

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