Our local newspaper the Westmorland Gazette leads this week with the story of a tornado which hit a farm in Old Hutton just to the east of Kendal last Saturday. 'Terrifying' tornado rips through South Lakes farm

There were a number of reports of the tornado on Border TV.  By the looks of the pictures of damage, slates driven into wooden posts and twisted and shattered trees, I'm reckoning it was a tornado.  There was an immense thunderstorm here in Kendal on Saturday afternoon last week (2nd November) which dropped huge amounts of hail.  This would fit with very turbulent convection.  The witnesses description of a 30 foot vortex coming along the road is also pretty convincing!

I can well imagine. The topography of the Lakes creates some great and unusual local weather events.

Many years ago, on the banks of Crummock Water, a freak wind passed down the valley. We heard it before feeling anything, all of us thinking it was a jet fighter roaring overhead and we all looked skywards but saw no plane - but half way down the lake we could see the trees violently swaying, and the effect was moving towards us. We all just stood there as the roar got louder. When it hit, it was like being buffeted by a violent storm, but only for a few seconds, then it was past us. My fishing rod, which was lying on the ground as we'd not started fishing yet, had been blown about 10' away. A weird experience.

I've experienced exactly that whilst spending a miserable night camping between Buttermere and Crummock with my Uni walking group in 1992.  I lay in the tent listening to what sounded like a train coming up the valley but was actually the wind, getting louder and louder which then hit the group of tents with immense force.  And this happened repeatedly, accompanied by torrential rain.  I was in a Vango mark II so small and low to the ground and it stayed up, although it flooded as the wind blew rain under the flysheet and over the groundsheet.  Others in the larger tents didn't fare so well, there were snapped poles and miserable students who spent the rest of the night in the minibus.  It was a memorable weekend for all the wrong reasons!

I wonder what on earth it was which caused that and how.

Btw - If I haven't said welcome to TWO - I'll do so now. Also I would like to add its great to have someone from Kendal on here.

A very nice and intresting place the Lakes are.

I saw the report on Border TV and received a few emails about. Has all the hallmarks of a tornado. I have informed the Met Office via my usual report update for that day but I dont expect to get any reply, it will just be logged .

Tornado,s occur more than we think in the UK, most are very small and only last a few seconds/minutes and I guess impossible to accuratley forecast for our area

The incident has been logged at TORRO but the server is down at the moment so I can't update you on any site visits or reports.
I'll post again when I get more information.

TORRO have no 'official' site investigation logged for this event, but Tom Lynch from NW did visit the area and posted this on NW. I'm sure he won't mind me sharing it with you:

At 2.20 on Saturday 2 November Old Hutton was hit by a thunder storm containing lightning and lots of hail. After the hail stopped every was dark the farmer I spoke to said the wind stopped and it became very calm and the noise like thunder but continuous . He found it hard to describe a train or rushing wind . He went down towards the end of the farm building and was shocked by the sight of what he described as a large cone which looked like it was down to the ground , it was about 30ft wide he could see how far it went up. as it lifted debris it took it anti clockwise and lifting it up. Dropping it further up the yard. Everything was flying everywhere. A peace of metal roofing sheet was lifted and transported 100 mtrs up the field and wrapped around a tree. Pieces of corrugated roofing where embedded in sheet metal cladding. Yet right next to that plastic guttering which was hang loose was left where it was . Barn doors were taken off their hinges. Pieces of roofing sheet were embedded in the walls at 90 degrees to each other which tells me that at that point there was severe circulation at that point. The metal gable of the barn was hit side on and has a large concave dent. The roof was removed in many locations and the farm house suffered extreme damage to the roof and chimney stacks. As we walked the length of the farm the farmer was picking up debris and there were Crab apples strewn everywhere but there is no apple trees in that vicinity. If it was a tornado it hit a tree and took half the branches off 100 mtrs SW of the farm then hit the farm and then a load of trees 100 mtrs NE of the farm. A farm wall was demolished at low level and grass in the fields had been flattened in different directions. damage could cost thousands to repair.

I have to thank the farmers and their families for allowing me to call on them. Border TV featured it on the news but their weather man was reluctant to say it was a tornado. I said that I am sure that we could determine from the evidence what it was. I could do with someone looking at the radar from 2.20pm on Saturday 2 Nov for OLD HUTTON . The farm is just to the east of the M6. I saw the storms on the radar green with envy. It looked tasty but I was in Preston. I am fairly confident that is was a tornado. 

I will attach more photos the metal building which had the lump of corrugate sheet sliced into also has had something travel down the side. I guess it was carrying debris because it looks like each time whatever it had picked up hit the metal wall it took the paint off at one point it even put a hole in the metal as it moved down the side of the building. Trees had been uprooted but I had to get back to work,
Needless to say but they also had lots of roof sheet and slates blown off."

Thanks HT - been kicking around the forum for a number of years, but rarely post - mainly in snow threads in the winter.  Just lurking most of the time :) 

I love everything about living in Kendal apart from the horrendous amounts of rain and flat grey weather that we seem to have - it can get seriously depressing.  If the weather isn't grey, then it's fantastic, and we do get some really interesting stuff (and scary too, there has been some major flood events here in the 11 years I've been here).

Thanks for posting this, it's a fascinating report.  DO you think that TORRO will actually log it as a tornado?  SOunds really convincing from what you got from the farmers.  It was the slates/roofing material stuck into things that really caught my eye.