Tornado!

[ImGonnaLive4eva]

Did anybody see the tornado near the pyramid stage on Thursday afternoon? It started on the path to the left of the pyramid field, whirling up dust and rubbish, then it went over a couple of guys and one of their hats disappeared into the air. Then when it got near where I was standing it completely ripped a tent out of the ground and deposited it about 50 metres away!

You could see it disappearing into the distance over the Big Ground campsite, where it ripped a couple more tents out of the ground, one of them was spinning around in the air above the electricity pylon!

[Josie's Cat]

And I thought it was hard to get decent acid these days

[ding dong]

yes.. i defo saw that. as did a girl who went by me. it was really tall and thin then dissapeared...

[roseyrose]

YES! We saw one in the market place near the pyramid stage, tall and thin whirling up dust! Wondered if it was the sun messing with my head!

[Greenish]

i saw the one in park home field on wednesday lunchtime. mental. never seen one before. 1 tent went flying into the air, a gazebo destroyed and plastic bags swirlying high into the area. over the weekend i saw 2 other tornados from a distance - was amazing.

[Niblet]

There was two in Pennards, one of them whisked my flag away down the fields but one of the guys that was camped with us, went and rescued it, gazebos and all were taken!

[Bristol Boy]

Our friends saw it, I thought they were spinning a yarn, suffering sunstroke or at best exaggerating a sudden gust of wind. Thanks, will apologise to them now!!

[Pinhead]

An Oxfam Steward friend of mine experienced one go through Big Lickle where they camp. Was powerful enough to remove tents, air beds / chairs and the like.

I have certainly been aware of them occurring on site in all hot years. I remember seeing them in 1995 in the Other Stage field (have a pic I think), and there is a bit of footage around somewhere I have seem.

Fair weather vorticies like this often form in the lee of hills, and since the site is essentially a valley, I reckon they come down from the south hills when the wind is blowing in the just the right direction at the same time lots of hot air is rising from the valley floor.

[halfpint]

I saw the pop tent in the air - wondered what the hell caused it to fly so madly round and so high.

[scmusic]

There was one during Femi Kuti's set on Friday at the Pyramid. First we knew of it was assorted carrier bags and newspapers being sucked into the air and swirling over the crowd. Then a largish multicoloured golf umbrella was sucked a couple hundred feet into the air and must have spent at least two minutes flying around over the Pyramid before crashing down into the hospitality area. Hope it hit someone just as they were namedropping Kate Moss...

[TokiDoki]

I saw one in the West Holts stage field, was pretty weak though (certainly wouldn't have lifted a tent up!)

They're not actually tornadoes, something like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_devil

[TokiDoki]

I also remember seeing a stronger one in the Other Stage field in 2003 when Interpol were playing. Was strong enough to lift quite a bit of hay and lots of bags, rubbish etc up into the air

[WS_Jack_III]

My mate who was with oxfam this year told me about this. I didn't believe him like.

[puppetmode]

There was one during Femi Kuti's set on Friday at the Pyramid. First we knew of it was assorted carrier bags and newspapers being sucked into the air and swirling over the crowd. Then a largish multicoloured golf umbrella was sucked a couple hundred feet into the air and must have spent at least two minutes flying around over the Pyramid before crashing down into the hospitality area. Hope it hit someone just as they were namedropping Kate Moss...

[ImGonnaLive4eva]

I've seen a small one there before, think it was in 2005, but that just moved dust and litter. My friends and I couldn't believe the force of this one when the tent was ripped out of the ground, it was like something from a movie!

There was also one on the Friday, we were sat down watching various bits of litter spiralling hundreds of feet up in the air!

Glastonbury really is a magical place!

[rischbrit]

Saw a blue pop up tent in the air around area of John peel tent while sat at the other stage (sober and not stoned!)

[randy marsh]

i saw the one in park home field on wednesday lunchtime. mental. never seen one before. 1 tent went flying into the air, a gazebo destroyed and plastic bags swirlying high into the area. over the weekend i saw 2 other tornados from a distance - was amazing.

[SaintJimmy]

I saw two. One tiny one that was just dust and then saw a gazebo go up in the air. So glad it was not just me seeing this!!

[icedgems]

one of my mates has a video of it on his camera, will see if I can post it!

[icedgems]

Video at link above (sorry don't know how to embed). edit - it embedded automatically, cool!

It's the tornado in the oxfam campsites.

Edited June 29, 2010 by icedgems

[Festy Lover]

There was one down at Unfair Ground, it just sucked up a tunnel of dust and litter into the air like a big inverted plug hole.

[ImGonnaLive4eva]

Video at link above (sorry don't know how to embed). edit - it embedded automatically, cool!

It's the tornado in the oxfam campsites.

[mr_smiss]

One also occurred in Kidney Mead on Monday about midday... was the most bizarre and interesting bit of weather I have seen at Glastonbury!