UK : A tornado raged over parts of Britain yesterday as a 'supercell' storm swept across the country.
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May 8, 2012, 5:25:20 AM5/8/12
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Times and Climate Change
UK : A tornado raged over parts of Britain yesterday as a 'supercell' storm swept across the country.
Forecasters say there is a strong chance of more thunder and lightning
By Lyle Brennan
The Daily Mail UK
PUBLISHED: 07:50 GMT, 8 May 2012 | UPDATED: 08:52 GMT, 8 May 2012
A tornado raged over parts of Britain yesterday as a 'supercell' storm swept across the country.
Forecasters said there was a 'definite chance' of more thunder and lightning after the unusual storm made its way through the south Midlands, bringing heavy rain, large hailstones and a tornado in Oxfordshire.
The thunderstorm started in Wiltshire, and moved across Oxfordshire - where a tornado was reported in several places including Bicester, Eynsham, and Kidlington - then moved to Buckinghamshire.
Richard Glazer drove through the tornado with his wife and son on the A34 near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
'It was very wet, we were just driving on the A34 and looked up and realised one part of the sky was moving in one direction and another in the opposite direction,' he said.
'I thought, "that looks like a tornado!" We pretty much drove through it, we were right underneath it.
'As we drove into it the trees were blowing left to right and as we got through it they were blowing the other way.'
The 40-year-old, from nearby Witney, Oxfordshire, added: 'It wasn't particularly big but it was amazing to see the change in the environment. It was grey and a bit blurry and then to be hit by something like that. You suddenly realise the force of nature, it's incredible.'
Ominous: Black storm clouds twist overhead in a still from amateur footage recorded on the A34 heading south at Kidlington, Oxfordshire
Ominous: Black storm clouds twist overhead in a still from amateur footage recorded on the A34 heading south at Kidlington, Oxfordshire
Forecasters said it was almost certainly a tornado, and the storm that caused it was thought to be a supercell storm - more commonly seen in the U.S. than in the UK.
Brendan Jones, forecaster at MeteoGroup, said it was unlikely there would be another supercell storm in the coming week, as they require very specific atmospheric conditions.
You might not believe it, but the UK is actually a tornado hot-spot.
The tunnels of wind are five times more likely to appear in Britain that in the U.S. - and we also get more of them than any other place in Europe.
At least 100 tornadoes strike Britain each year - such as the one pictured above, which touched down in Darlington last month - but they are not always spotted, and just 30 are reported each year.
A tornado is defined as 'a fast-moving rotating column of air, usually with a funnel-shaped cloud that extends to the ground'.
The U.S. is better known for this unusual weather phenomenon, where tornadoes can be up to half a mile wide and top out at 300mph. In the UK, our twisters are likely to be a couple of dozen metres wide with a top speed of 120mph.
However, a particularly big tornado in January 1998 caused more than £10m of damage in the town of Selsey in West Sussex.
However, heavy rain has been predicted for much of the country, which could bring more thunder and lightning, Mr Jones said.
He continued: 'It's going to remain unsettled, there will be rain and showers around and there is a definite chance of more thunderstorm activity.
'This particular thunderstorm developed over the northern part of Wiltshire, and then gradually over the next three hours that storm tracked through Oxfordshire and into part of Buckinghamshire before eventually dying out before it got to Cambridgeshire.
'That's quite far for one thunderstorm to track.
'At the moment it's difficult to say exactly where the tornado was because while the parent thunderstorm travelled all the way across the south Midlands, it wasn't necessarily producing a tornado all the time.
'There has been more than one report of a tornado beneath this storm. There has also been some quite big hailstones.'
He said it was likely the storm was a 'supercell' thunderstorm - unlike normal storms, the air in supercell storms is spinning or rotating, he said.
'There are suggestions that this thunderstorm was a special type of storm that we don't get too often in this country. That's a reason why it was able to last for such a long time,' he said.
He said the UK had seen plenty of reports of tornadoes and funnel clouds - which do not touch the ground - but not supercell storms, adding: 'This one was fairly special.'
The storm comes less than two weeks after high winds tore through Rugby, Warwickshire, blowing the roof from one home and damaging others, described by some people as being like a 'mini tornado'.
Another tornado was also reported to have happened near Halstead, Essex, on the same day.
UK : A tornado raged over parts of Britain yesterday as a 'supercell' storm swept across the country.
Forecasters say there is a strong chance of more thunder and lightning
By Lyle Brennan
The Daily Mail UK
PUBLISHED: 07:50 GMT, 8 May 2012 | UPDATED: 08:52 GMT, 8 May 2012
A tornado raged over parts of Britain yesterday as a 'supercell' storm swept across the country.
Forecasters said there was a 'definite chance' of more thunder and lightning after the unusual storm made its way through the south Midlands, bringing heavy rain, large hailstones and a tornado in Oxfordshire.
The thunderstorm started in Wiltshire, and moved across Oxfordshire - where a tornado was reported in several places including Bicester, Eynsham, and Kidlington - then moved to Buckinghamshire.
Richard Glazer drove through the tornado with his wife and son on the A34 near Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
'It was very wet, we were just driving on the A34 and looked up and realised one part of the sky was moving in one direction and another in the opposite direction,' he said.
'I thought, "that looks like a tornado!" We pretty much drove through it, we were right underneath it.
'As we drove into it the trees were blowing left to right and as we got through it they were blowing the other way.'
The 40-year-old, from nearby Witney, Oxfordshire, added: 'It wasn't particularly big but it was amazing to see the change in the environment. It was grey and a bit blurry and then to be hit by something like that. You suddenly realise the force of nature, it's incredible.'
Ominous: Black storm clouds twist overhead in a still from amateur footage recorded on the A34 heading south at Kidlington, Oxfordshire
Ominous: Black storm clouds twist overhead in a still from amateur footage recorded on the A34 heading south at Kidlington, Oxfordshire
Forecasters said it was almost certainly a tornado, and the storm that caused it was thought to be a supercell storm - more commonly seen in the U.S. than in the UK.
Brendan Jones, forecaster at MeteoGroup, said it was unlikely there would be another supercell storm in the coming week, as they require very specific atmospheric conditions.
You might not believe it, but the UK is actually a tornado hot-spot.
The tunnels of wind are five times more likely to appear in Britain that in the U.S. - and we also get more of them than any other place in Europe.
At least 100 tornadoes strike Britain each year - such as the one pictured above, which touched down in Darlington last month - but they are not always spotted, and just 30 are reported each year.
A tornado is defined as 'a fast-moving rotating column of air, usually with a funnel-shaped cloud that extends to the ground'.
The U.S. is better known for this unusual weather phenomenon, where tornadoes can be up to half a mile wide and top out at 300mph. In the UK, our twisters are likely to be a couple of dozen metres wide with a top speed of 120mph.
However, a particularly big tornado in January 1998 caused more than £10m of damage in the town of Selsey in West Sussex.
However, heavy rain has been predicted for much of the country, which could bring more thunder and lightning, Mr Jones said.
He continued: 'It's going to remain unsettled, there will be rain and showers around and there is a definite chance of more thunderstorm activity.
'This particular thunderstorm developed over the northern part of Wiltshire, and then gradually over the next three hours that storm tracked through Oxfordshire and into part of Buckinghamshire before eventually dying out before it got to Cambridgeshire.
'That's quite far for one thunderstorm to track.
'At the moment it's difficult to say exactly where the tornado was because while the parent thunderstorm travelled all the way across the south Midlands, it wasn't necessarily producing a tornado all the time.
'There has been more than one report of a tornado beneath this storm. There has also been some quite big hailstones.'
He said it was likely the storm was a 'supercell' thunderstorm - unlike normal storms, the air in supercell storms is spinning or rotating, he said.
'There are suggestions that this thunderstorm was a special type of storm that we don't get too often in this country. That's a reason why it was able to last for such a long time,' he said.
He said the UK had seen plenty of reports of tornadoes and funnel clouds - which do not touch the ground - but not supercell storms, adding: 'This one was fairly special.'
The storm comes less than two weeks after high winds tore through Rugby, Warwickshire, blowing the roof from one home and damaging others, described by some people as being like a 'mini tornado'.
Another tornado was also reported to have happened near Halstead, Essex, on the same day.
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