Meteorologists specializing in tornadoes do not doubt that the author (at that time the dean of the Prague chapter) faithfully described the tornado. This is the very first known description of this extreme manifestation of weather in our country. Experts estimate the strength according to the Fujit scale between F3 and F4, but for an accurate evaluation it would be necessary to find out how robustly the Vyšehrad palace was built more than 900 years ago.

“This storm was so strong that everywhere it raged, it overthrew the forests, grafts and everything that stood in its way in this country with its fierceness,” continues the translation from Kosm’s work, which was written in Latin.

The sprinkling lasted a week

Historical images of tornadoes searched and clarified in 1998 by Professor Jan Kouba from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. Another tornado probably swept through the Czech kingdom around Prague in 1250.

Other cases of tornadoes in Prague and its surroundings
October 1, 2014: Prague-Dubeč (significant thrombus)
September 12, 2005: Prague-Ruzyně (significant thrombus)
May 31, 2001: Hovorčovice, Vyšehořovice in the district of Prague-East (force F0)
Source: tornada-cz.cz

“On the afternoon of July 2, large hail fell, which caused a lot of damage to ground and spring sowing, vineyards, fruit trees and others, and caused a great destruction of cattle, birds of various species, and killed many forest animals,” says Kosma’s successors. which many people drowned and built, and the barns were torn down by the air. In the Latin original, however, the word “turbine” is used, one of the meanings of which is a tornado or (wind and water) vortex.

“This hail lasted for seven days; and the hail was strange in size and triangular, and some were mixed with moss, followed by heavy rain and floods, ”said medieval chroniclers.

Only five years later – specifically on April 8 – most often, as (due to) Prince Nicholas I. Opavský, son of Přemysl Otakar II. “The wooden bell tower with bells inside the walls (church) of St. Mary also collapsed at the hour when the winds hit and many other damages happened in the city and in the villages.”

Experts believe that it was almost certainly a tornado at the time. On the contrary, when describing the weather on December 3, 1281, the tornado probably did not hit Prague. The Czech translation speaks of a whirlwind.

The windmill in Strahov and the bell tower in Dolní Chabry

“Twenty-four construction of towers at Prague Castle and on the city walls collapsed by the force of the wind. How many houses in the city of Prague and beyond have fallen, destroyed by a storm, cannot even be counted. In the countryside, barns were torn down by storms and so many fruit and forest trees were uprooted that something similar had not happened for years. The windmill in Strahov collapsed from the ground up and was re-exposed the same year. “

From the above records, it follows that Thursday’s tornado in the Břeclav and Hodonín regions was not caused by climate change. Similar extreme weather events have been around for centuries. The tragedy of the current situation is that a windstorm hit a populated area and claimed five lives and caused billions in property damage.

In 1950, a tornado (probably about the strength of F3) formed on the northern edge of the metropolis and after three minutes it stopped at the Elbe in Central Bohemia. According to period photographs, for example, the bell tower was demolished in Dolní Chabry.

Unfortunately, South Moravia will be recorded in history as a place where the natural “apocalypse” had a frightening effect on its social networks and was one of the most destructive. So far, few have been able to imagine that something similar is possible in the Czech Republic. Perhaps another “satan in the form of faith” will not appear for another 900 years…