ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns first with strong winds and gales as a hazard and secondly with other types of storms including thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes. The majority of the severe gales on record have occurred with intense depressions moving from the Atlantic in an eastward or north-eastward direction across, or along the western seaboard of the British Isles. Gales from directions between south and west result from these weather conditions, veering to north-westerly after the passage of the cold front. Wind damage to buildings occurs every year during gales, but very little information is available on the numbers of buildings involved, the type of damage, the meteorological conditions which cause it and the total losses incurred. Tornadoes, the most violent and localised type of storm, occur from time to time in Britain, although they are usually less intense and destructive than the fully developed storms that affect the Prairie states of North America.
