Video: Possible tornado sweeps across Amsterdam; Code Yellow for Saturday
A whirlwind passed across the center of Amsterdam on Friday night, catching many of the city's residents and tourists completely off guard. There were no known injuries in the immediate aftermath, with just a handful of damage reports following the 9:15 p.m. weather incident.
It was not immediately known if the wind speed at the whirlwind reached 105 kilometers per hour, the minimum speed of a tornado according to the Fujita scale. The wind speed in this instance likely peaked no higher than 100 km/h, meteorology site Weerplaza.nl told broadcaster NOS.
A possible supercell thunderstorm passed through Noord-Holland, which could have caused the tornado, according to AD.
Videos posted to social media platforms from the southwestern part of Amsterdam Centrum near Leidseplein showed the sky turning dark as clouds began to twist and rotate. People around De Pijp, Oosterdok, Amsterdam Centraal in the city center, and Overhoeks in Amsterdam Noord all reported seeing either a thin tornado or a waterspout. Newspaper NRC said police also received calls about damage in Amsterdam Oost and Diemen.
A boat was damaged after it was dragged through around by the tornado, and a tree crashed down onto a bike path, according to authorities in the region.
More windy weather was expected on Saturday. The national weather agency KNMI issued a Code Yellow warning for high winds in Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland, as well as the areas around the Wadden Sea and the IJsselmeer. Wind gusts between 75 and 90 km/h were anticipated as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 9 p.m., with the northwestern part of the country likely to see gusts up to 100 kilometers per hour.
