© www.infoclimat.frTornado 20km southwest of Toulouse, France on April 29, 2012.
The tornado was first sighted 15-20 kilometers (9 to 13 miles) south of Toulouse around 7:10 p.m. local time. The tornado then moved towards in a northeasterly direction toward the southern part of the city of Toulouse, France. Only minor damage was reported including collapsed walls, uprooted trees and cars moved out of place in Toulouse. Meteorologic reported:
This tornado apparently caused little damage. It could therefore be classified as F1 on the Fujita scale.An F1 tornado is defined as having winds in the range of 73 to 112 miles per hour (117 to 180 kilometers per hour).
Violent tornadoes are rare in France. On August 3, 2008, however, the town of Hautmont, France tornado was struck by a much more powerful tornado than the one that touched down near Toulouse today. The 2008 tornado left a path of destruction about 19 kilometers (12 mi) long through several small towns, especially in Hautmont, where four people were killed and another nine were injured by the tornado.
Bottom line: A tornado touched down near the city of Toulouse in France on the evening of April 29, 2012. It did only minor damage and was reportedly classified as an F1 tornado on the Fujita scale.
The storm front passed over here. Lots of sturm and drang, followed by about 15 minutes of pea sized hail, then a hard rain. No damage, but I had forgotten that some potted garden starts were on the patio and the hail did a number on them. Having grown up in Oklahoma, I thought it strange that it looked a lot like a funnel forming front. I had no idea that it actually produced a tornado until reading this article.