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Supercell tornado & extreme lightning batter France

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On 24 August, southern France experienced a powerful supercell thunderstorm. This resulted in a significant number of lightning strikes; it also saw a tornado touching down in the village of Verzeille, France:

Supercell, tornado in France

Supercells are the least common of all thunderstorms, and they’re known for being intense and dangerous. These storms are characterised by a rotating updraft, leading to the circular motion that can be seen in the below video. At the point when the video was filmed, the storm was producing pretty much constant lightning:

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In America, supercell storms are most common in the central states, which is where ‘tornado alley’ is. Reporting on the tornado which hit France, MyRadar Weather wrote:

touched down near/northwest of Limoux and moved east toward the city. It was associated with a rotating supercell thunderstorm that formed ahead of a messier storm complex/clusters. It propagated eastward, likely gobbling up extra low-level spin north of the Pyrenees Mountains.

It was very likely a significant (EF2+) tornado, and may have caused EF3 damage. Winds probably exceeded 150 mph (240 km/h). Complete destruction of some homes has occurred.

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Videos captured the tornado from multiple angles:

While tornados aren’t unheard of in Europe, this one does follow a run of record-breaking heatwaves. It’s understood extreme temperatures and weather events will become more common due to climate change. In other words, images like the above might lack any sort of novelty factor in years to come.

France wasn’t the only European nation being battered by lightning either:

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Other videos showed the aftermath of the storm:

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The Mediterranean lifestyle

France wasn’t the only nation to face extreme weather; Spain also experienced violent storms. This led to criticism of the UK journalists and politicians who recently told Britons to shut up and enjoy the nice weather:

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Richard Tice of Reform UK is perhaps the worst example of this, and he’s still going:

As we reported, the heatwaves we experienced this summer led to:

  • Extreme and abundant wildfires (including one which burned down houses in Stourbridge).
  • Suspected train derailments caused by tracks buckling.
  • Ongoing crop failures which will drive food inflation.
  • Water shortages.

When you “celebrate” the extreme heat caused by climate change, the above is what you’re celebrating. And while many Britons no doubt enjoyed some sun this summer, they won’t be enjoying it when they’re the ones experiencing the brunt:

The extreme storms hitting France and Spain are the flip side to the extreme droughts.

It’s not that extreme weather never happened in the past; it’s that the frequency and intensity of these events will escalate until it becomes impossible to maintain the links and infrastructure that mass society relies on. And all so a few dozen centi-billionaires can continue to get wealthier than they have any need to be – billionaires who openly fund Reform UK.

Uniparty

We’re singling out Reform, but most of the major parties have their heads in the sand when it comes to climate change. A new example of this is Andy Burnham refusing to renationalise the failed private water sector despite the UK facing shortages which are a direct result of corporate greed:

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We’ve tried fighting climate change with half measures, and the problem only got worse. If we become numb to weather events like the ones we’re seeing in France, there really is no limit to how bad things can get from here.

Featured image via X

By Willem Moore

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