Surrey Hit With Catnado

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Posted by samzenpus on Monday January 27, 2014 @02:55AM from the raining-cats-and-more-cats dept.

taikedz writes "A "mini-tornado" brought down trees, damaged property and even lifted cats in the air, an eyewitness has said. Shirley Blay, who keeps horses at the Jolly Blossom Stables on Station Road, Chobham, told BBC Surrey: 'It was a mini-tornado, I can't describe it as anything less. It started with very heavy rain, hailstones and very strong wind and all of a sudden, the wind was very, very strong, to the point of lifting roofs. We've got four feral cats in the yard and they were being lifted off the ground — about 6ft off the ground — they just went round like a big paper bag.' She said the people and animals who were caught up in the storm were uninjured. A spokesman from Valgrays Animal Rescue in Warlingham said: 'It was like something out of a Steven Spielberg film.'

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Hundreds or thousands by i+kan+reed · 2014-01-27 02:59 · Score: 3, Interesting

There are hundreds to thousands of real, super destructive tornadoes each year, I don't get why a particularly weak one is of note. We didn't even get a "scientists baffled" tagline.
1. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2014-01-27 03:03 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Because it hit Cobham and did millions of pounds worth of renovation :D
  
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2. Re:Hundreds or thousands by betterprimate · 2014-01-27 03:04 · Score: 1
  
  I have never heard of tornado-like weather being native to England. Perhaps our British brethren can elaborate on how this story is unique.
3. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2014-01-27 03:10 · Score: 1
  
  Actually we do get minor tornado's every now and then but it's only very occasionally like every five or ten years.
  
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4. Re:Hundreds or thousands by CanHasDIY · 2014-01-27 03:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Because, how often do you get to use the word "catnado," much less actually see it happen?
  Here's hoping someone caught it on film and is uploading to the net as we type.
  
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5. Re:Hundreds or thousands by mattie_p · 2014-01-27 03:40 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Because, how often do you get to use the word "catnado," much less actually see it happen?
  Here's hoping someone caught it on film and is uploading to the net as we type.
  Seriously. Pics or it didn't happen.
6. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Vitriol+Angst · 2014-01-27 03:56 · Score: 1
  
  are you obtuse?
  This "small" tornado that "baffled no scientists" had cats. YouTube and SlashDot need to inform people.
  Have you seen the internet(s) yet?
  
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7. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Vitriol+Angst · 2014-01-27 03:58 · Score: 1
  
  If someone is not uploading a Catnado as we type, then something is broken in our system.
  In fact, If someone on SyFy isn't already writing a screenplay -- something is broken.
  I'm even betting the man who wrote the screenplay for the epic "Sharknado" is on the case. Don't worry. Don't worry at all.
  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt27...
  
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8. Re:Hundreds or thousands by wonkey_monkey · 2014-01-27 04:11 · Score: 1
  
  The UK has more tornadoes by area than any other country, and more in total than any other European country.
  But they only pick up cats, not cows. Or towns.
  
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9. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Hypotensive · 2014-01-27 04:30 · Score: 2
  
  Chobham is a good 12 miles away from Cobham.
10. Re:Hundreds or thousands by TheCarp · 2014-01-27 04:30 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  You clearly don't understand news.
  "When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M... )
  It doesn't matter that more people are hurt by dogs biting them then dogs hurt by men biting them, it is all about frequency and expectation. If you can tell some random person on the street "X happened" and they are shocked, then its news. if they shrug and say "no shit, it happens every day" then its not news.
  
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11. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Applehu+Akbar · 2014-01-27 04:32 · Score: 1
  
  I've heard that providing low-cost housing has been an issue in Surrey, but this story should tell you that a mobile home park is not the best approach.
12. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2014-01-27 04:38 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  It is now :)
  
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13. Re:Hundreds or thousands by wonkey_monkey · 2014-01-27 04:38 · Score: 2
  
  I'm even betting the man who wrote the screenplay for the epic "Sharknado" is on the case.
  Someone wrote that? I assumed it was the result of a buffer overflow.
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
14. Re:Hundreds or thousands by Alioth · 2014-01-27 04:57 · Score: 1
  
  The UK actually has the most tornadoes in the world per unit area (0.14 per 1000km^3) - more tornadoes per 1000km^3 than "Tornado Alley" in the United States. Including territorial waters, the UK has more tornadoes per year than any other European country. It's just they are very rarely strong enough to be noteworthy. If no one sees them then no one will know they even existed, since they tend to be too weak to do any damage (or at least damage that's not consistent with other attributes of the storm). The ones out at sea are waterspouts and unless they hit a boat or are observed by a weather reporting station, no one will even know it happened.
  
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15. Re:Hundreds or thousands by wcrowe · 2014-01-27 05:05 · Score: 1
  
  Since the story is from the UK, it would read, "Boffins Baffled".
  
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  Proverbs 21:19
16. Re:Hundreds or thousands by cffrost · 2014-01-27 06:16 · Score: 1
  
  The UK actually has the most tornadoes in the world per unit area (0.14 per 1000km^3) - more tornadoes per 1000km^3 than "Tornado Alley" in the United States.
  You might want to check that number — you claimed a count per unit volume right after you wrote "per unit area." Perhaps you meant 0.14/1000km^2/year, or 0.27/100km^2/year (0.14^(1/3)^2)/1000^(1/3)^2/year)?
  
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17. Re:Hundreds or thousands by beelsebob · 2014-01-27 07:30 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, the UK has a higher rate of tornadoes than tornado alley in the US. It just happens they're generally somewhat smaller.
18. Re:Hundreds or thousands by betterprimate · 2014-01-27 07:39 · Score: 1
  
  Britain is an island. Per unit area is not an appropriate way to justify this statement: "The UK has the most tornados in the world per unit area."
  Having been raised in "Tornado Alley", the majority of Tornados go unreported. They are too commonplace. Plus, we have had tornados one mile in circumference. So if your'e going to use per unit area (since Britain is an island), you need to include the unit area of the tornados themselves. For instance, a one mile wide tornado that is on the ground for an hour will make the recorded history of *all* tornados occurring in the UK irrelevant.
  Let me know when you see this...
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
  That day, over 50 tornados were reported. I personally saw 7.
19. Re:Hundreds or thousands by betterprimate · 2014-01-27 07:45 · Score: 1
  
  As for someone who has been raised in "tornado alley" and has seen over 100 tornados before the age 7, I find this hard to believe.
20. Re:Hundreds or thousands by betterprimate · 2014-01-27 07:49 · Score: 1
  
  I am inclined to think that even thousands is understatement. We still do not have an adequate apparatus to predict tornados. We still rely upon 3rd person accounts.
21. Re:Hundreds or thousands by i+kan+reed · 2014-01-27 08:14 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe 15 years ago that was true. The wind shear hypothesis, as measured by doppler radar has been pretty well validated.
WTF Slashdot by sanosuke001 · 2014-01-27 03:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

What is this, the local fucking news?

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-SaNo
1. Re:WTF Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-27 03:07 · Score: 1
  
  What is this, the local fucking news?
  No, local fucking is generally dealt with in the classifieds.
  _>
2. Re:WTF Slashdot by J'raxis · 2014-01-27 03:08 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Clickbait.
  
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3. Re:WTF Slashdot by Shoten · 2014-01-27 03:21 · Score: 1
  
  I'm just glad that Kanye West doesn't follow news of pretty much any sort. I dread the sort of music that would be inspired by a "pussy tornado."
  
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4. Re:WTF Slashdot by mattie_p · 2014-01-27 03:46 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I still expect some level of quality from idle. I don't want to see pictures of your mother's cat.
  If the cat is flying in circles due to being caught in a mini-tornado, then I do want to see pictures of your mother's cat.
5. Re:WTF Slashdot by mattie_p · 2014-01-27 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not picky, I'll take whatever flying cat pictures you got. Honestly, can you go wrong posting flying cat pictures on the internet?
Anyone else thinking this? by caspy7 · 2014-01-27 03:02 · Score: 1

It was Q.
1. Re:Anyone else thinking this? by JustOK · 2014-01-27 03:48 · Score: 1
  
  Harry Potter on 'shrooms
  
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  rewriting history since 2109
2. Re:Anyone else thinking this? by wonkey_monkey · 2014-01-27 04:41 · Score: 1
  
  No, it was Q.
  
  --
  systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Hello I'm british by CdBee · 2014-01-27 03:08 · Score: 2

We get tornadoes, just not often. Perhaps a few dozen a year - in my life I've only seen one once (I was driving at night and it crossed the road from one side to the other 100 yards in front of me - scared the crap out of me).

As a result they are much discussed over cups of tea when they occur. The national obsession with cats has made this the news story of the year

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1. Re:Hello I'm british by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-27 04:07 · Score: 1
  
  The UK gets a couple dozen a year while the US gets about 1200 tornadoes a year. The UK only gets more in the sense of average per land area, but not anywhere close in total number. In 1985-2005 about 4 hurricanes made landfall in the UK total, while the eastern US averages about 1.7 a year. The UK does not get a lot of hurricanes. There is an important distinction between hurricanes and cyclones in general, as the UK does get extratropical cyclones plenty, although I don't know of the statistics suggesting which country gets more of those.
2. Re:Hello I'm british by rainmouse · 2014-01-27 04:10 · Score: 1
  
  I believe he/she meant to say, "However, the UK probably has most tornadoes per area per year, 0.14 per 1000 km."
  (source) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...
3. Re:Hello I'm british by Charliemopps · 2014-01-27 04:23 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  What you saw is a large "Dust devil" I've seen those to. About the size of an office building.
  A REAL tornado you can't be within 100 yards of. They reach from the ground to the sky and are usually anywhere from a few dozen yards wide to miles wide at the base. I've survived 2 of those, and if it were an actual tornado, you probably would have crapped yourself for real.
4. Re:Hello I'm british by Chris+Mattern · 2014-01-27 04:28 · Score: 1
  
  Tornadoes can happen *anywhere*. However, some places are more likely to get them than others; the American midwest is the most likely place, by a fairly wide margin. Meteorologists are are not entirely certain why.
5. Re:Hello I'm british by RabidReindeer · 2014-01-27 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  The UK does not get a lot of hurricanes. There is an important distinction between hurricanes and cyclones in general, as the UK does get extratropical cyclones plenty, although I don't know of the statistics suggesting which country gets more of those.
  What the UK gets a goodly quantity of is former hurricanes. Hurricanes that spawn off West Africa, move west towards the Carribbean and US, then turn north, then northeast and head straight towards Ireland and Wales. By the time they reach about 40 degrees North or so, they lose tropical characteristics, but persist as large areas of weather moving towards the UK. I think that in some cases, they then head towards places like Germany, where they name them and call them "Orkans", but I'm not sure that all Orkans were originally Atlantic storms or vice versa.
  Hurricanes spawned in the Gulf of Mexico are less likely to make it to Europe, since in order to escape the Gulf, they have to cross land, which deflates them severely. Plus some Gulf hurricanes end up in the Pacific instead of taking the northeast track. Hurricane Ivan several years back came up from the Gulf, crossed Georgia into the Atlantic, then headed South and west back into Florida, giving some residents multiple hits from the same storm.
6. Re:Hello I'm british by vakuona · 2014-01-27 06:47 · Score: 1
  
  Um. Hurricanes and cyclones (and typhoons) are the same thing. At least in this part of the world (the UK) they are the same thing. Just different parts of the world call them different names.
  Tornados, though, are different.
7. Re:Hello I'm british by betterprimate · 2014-01-27 08:05 · Score: 1
  
  Yip. Tornados occur when two fronts collide, typically north and south.
  Because of this, tornado season varies for all states. In Kansas and Oklahoma, tornado season is primarily in late spring to mid-summer. Other states, like Ohio, may have tornados in August through October.
  If I recall correctly, in tornado alley they typically form on the south-east side of the two colliding fronts, at least on this hemisphere. So when you have the two fronts collide, the funnel will almost always form at the "end" of the storm.
8. Re:Hello I'm british by beelsebob · 2014-01-27 08:16 · Score: 1
  
  The UK has however in that time had several systems that reached hurricane strength, just none of them were ever called cyclones.
9. Re:Hello I'm british by supercrisp · 2014-01-27 09:19 · Score: 1
  
  A pair of F2s passed on either side of my house once. One was about 100 yards away, the other was less than 20. I wasn't shitting myself, but I was juggling a beer, a cigarette, and a rather small pipe as I peeped up thru a basement window. If I'd had glue to sniff, that'd have been in the rotation too. F2 is plenty big enough, thank you! Each of the two utterly destroyed houses along the two east-west streets they were traveling.
10. Re:Hello I'm british by KernelMuncher · 2014-01-27 10:24 · Score: 1
  
  I thought it had to do with the common occurrence of cold fronts from Canada colliding with warm fronts from the Gulf of Mexico. That would occur right around Kansas / Oklahoma, the center of Tornado Alley.
April 1 by Dan+East · 2014-01-27 03:37 · Score: 1

I literally looked down at the clock on my taskbar to see if today was April 1 while reading this blurb.

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relax mate by WindBourne · 2014-01-27 03:48 · Score: 1

It was just dust devils. With the climate changing, more ppl will see what we get in Colorado regularly.

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catnado catnado catnado!!! by ThatsDrDangerToYou · 2014-01-27 03:53 · Score: 1

Exactly. I believe this is the first ever catnado documented on /.
I also take issue with the "the cats were unharmed" thing. I'd bet they are particularly pissed today, and by pissed I mean irritated, not the Brit meaning, though they may be drunk as well.
CATNADOOO! There, I feel better now.
Re:weather report by geogob · 2014-01-27 03:57 · Score: 2

But it's about cute cats!
Love this post by SeanBlader · 2014-01-27 04:05 · Score: 2

This post is perfect for a monday! It's about cats, it's on the internet, and it's about a tornado in England of all places. Along with that it's certainly due to be a Syfy movie of the week, following up after Sharknado, Sharkalanche, Sharkicane, and Sharkano.
1. Re:Love this post by R3d+M3rcury · 2014-01-27 07:25 · Score: 1
  
  Not to mention a good lead-up to Puppy Bowl!
Re:Next On Beta.Slashdot.org by jones_supa · 2014-01-27 04:27 · Score: 1

Reddit is actually quite usable interface-wise.
Re:weather report by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-27 04:31 · Score: 1

Actually, TFA doesn't say that the cats were cute.
Re:weather report by The+Grim+Reefer · 2014-01-27 04:34 · Score: 1

But it's about cute cats!
Do tell. What is so cute about flying feral cats? I don't want this flying at me. Do you? Or how about this fluffy fellow?
"Catnado" is actually her superhero identity... by Thud457 · 2014-01-27 05:37 · Score: 1

Her NAME is Dr Eleanor Abernathy MD JD

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Re: weather report by Anonymous Coward · 2014-01-27 06:49 · Score: 1

Well, at least it wasn't raining cats AND dogs.
Meteorologists has rated it by Ukab+the+Great · 2014-01-27 07:29 · Score: 2

cat gory 5 catnado.
Hit us, lost 2 trees by hazeii · 2014-01-27 08:18 · Score: 1

It was more a band of very strong wind (for the UK) - the damage track is several miles wide, nothing like a tornado. Not too severe, about one tree down every 2 miles (rough calculation from seeing about a dozen trees down on a 25 mile local trip). We lost 2, both ripped off about 10 feet from the ground (in from the edge of a small wood - apparently others have seen a similar pattern).

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No picture or video! by michaelwigle · 2014-01-27 08:27 · Score: 1

I am very disappointed there were no pictures or video of said "catnado". :P
Re:weather report by noh8rz10 · 2014-01-27 09:17 · Score: 1

hahaha animal abuse hahaha so funny! if only there were a youtube video!
It was a slow day on Slashdot until... by rjmarvin · 2014-01-27 09:51 · Score: 1

...CATNADO ripped through the Front Page, leaving a trail of pun-laden comments and fur ball debris in its wake.
Re:weather report by The+Grim+Reefer · 2014-01-27 10:37 · Score: 1

That's not a feral cat. It's merely a sphynx meowing (first pic), and play-biting something (second pic).
Great. So what your are saying is that those are domesticated animals. That makes me feel so much better about having a wild ass cat flying at me. Thanks. I think.