Weather stories

25 April 2001 at Netherhampton, Salisbury, Wiltshire

The Daily Mail of 4 May carried a report that 15 dead goldfish and koi carp had been found on the fairway of the second hole of the golf course at Salisbury. The Met Office was quoted as accepting the theory that the fish had been lifted by a tornado ‘from an ornamental pond in a nearby garden’. The Salisbury paper, The Journal (3 May) gave additional details, including the date ‘last Wednesday’ (25 April) ‘during a torrential downpour’. The course manager, Mr Carl Horrax, said: ‘It’s not possible that it was a prank.’ He had driven over the area ten minutes before, so in his opinion a hoaxer would have been seen.

'TORRO Tornado Division Report for Britain and Ireland: January to April 2001', The Journal of Meteorology, vol.28, no.278, April 2003, p.146