Leersum, on the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, was hit by a fall wind last Friday. This is according to research by the KNMI. Gusty winds occasionally occur in the summer, during severe thunderstorms.
Shortly after the storm reached Leersum, there was speculation about a whirlwind. That weather phenomenon resembles a katabatic wind and can cause similar damage. But the pattern of damage is different. “In a storm, the damage is concentrated in a relatively narrow, long track and the trees fall in different directions due to the rotational movement inside the trunk”, the KNMI writes.
According to the meteorological institute, the fact that the trees in Leersum almost without exception fell in the same direction indicates that there was a fall wind. NOS weatherman Marco Verhoef already stated on Saturday that there was a good chance that Leersum was ravaged by a gust of wind.
In a similar storm with a catastrophic wind in July 2010, two people died on a campsite in Vethuizen (Gelderland). In June 2007, two people were injured by a fall wind in Hoogeveen, Drenthe. Nine people were injured in Leersum last Friday.
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