It was on Tuesday, around half past one, that Tobias Nordström’s father called for him in the summer cottage, which is just outside Hudiksvall.
– It was my father who saw it first and called me. We went out to check, then he went to our neighbor – my uncle – and told them so they could see too.
Although it had been quite windy during the day, it has not been worse than it usually is, because the cabin is next to the sea.
But Tobias Nordström has never seen a tornado before.
– It was a new experience, he says.
Then a tornado occurs
On average, around ten tornadoes are reported per year in Sweden, says TV4’s meteorologist Ingrid Eronn. Exactly how they are formed is not known in detail – but we do know that they are quite short-lived and that they arise from rising air and different types of winds, she says.
– Partly, it is rising air that creates the thundercloud itself and in connection with the thundercloud there can be strong downwinds because there is a lot of energy in motion. And the downwinds, combined with updrafts, then begin to form a tornado.
When the circulation occurs, the pressure drops sharply at the same time as the temperature drops.
– And then we get this tuba, as it is called, which spins down to the ground, she says.
“Not completely harmless”
Tornadoes, or tornadoes as they are often called in the US, are not completely harmless. In the United States, they can become so powerful that they level houses to the ground. In Sweden, the effects are rarely, if ever, so serious – but you still have to respect the weather phenomenon, says Ingrid Eronn.
– It is not completely harmless. Right in the vicinity of a tornado, it can blow up to 70 meters per second, which is double hurricane strength. If you’re sitting in a sailboat, you should probably turn on the engine and push away as fast as you can, she says.
But if you see a tornado from a distance, as Tobias Nordström did, you need neither be worried nor afraid.
– I don’t think you should be afraid. If you see one from a distance, I think you should enjoy the fact that you get to experience it – because it’s quite unusual.
– I haven’t seen anyone, so I’m very jealous of Tobias.