As of Could 16, the UK had obtained 80.6 mm of rain to date this spring, which is about 20 mm lower than the season-long report of 100.7 mm established in 1852.
Alex Burkill, a meteorologist with the Met Workplace, said on Wednesday there’s a threat of thunder, lightning and hail within the UK’s southern areas.
He stated “it’s not out of the query that we might see a funnel cloud, perhaps even a short twister throughout components of the South East” within the upcoming days.
Tornadoes within the UK are extra frequent than we expect. In keeping with the Met Workplace, round 30 tornadoes are reported throughout the British Isles every year.
As tornadoes normally must be recognized by people, there’s additionally an opportunity that extra have taken place with out us realizing.
How are tornadoes shaped?
Tornadoes are available many sizes and styles and are sometimes shaped throughout extreme thunderstorms, generally often called supercell thunderstorms.
Variations in temperature between the ambiance assist this present of air spin, after which altering wind route makes it rotate horizontally.
Extra wind then tilts the rotating air column downwards, resulting in the formation of a twister dropping down from the clouds.
Tornadoes might be slim or might be very large in diameter, with the largest twister being 2.6 miles large.
Within the UK, tornadoes normally solely trigger gentle harm and have weak energy, in contrast to extra reported incidents of tornadoes taking place within the US.
Why does the UK have tornadoes?
Chance of a twister occurring within the UK map
Met Workplace
A twister alley is an space the place chilly and heat air conflict, making it a major spot for the creation of tornadoes. Most of those areas are positioned in southern England.
Probably the most well-known twister alley runs down the middle of the US and is the place strongest tornadoes strike the US.
Scientists admitted that they nonetheless did not fairly know why the UK had such a excessive frequency of weak tornadoes. There’s additionally lots much less analysis happening on UK tornadoes compared to different areas just like the US.
The Higher Manchester incident is without doubt one of the extra extreme tornadoes to hit the UK.
The Met Workplace stated: “Round 30 tornadoes a 12 months are reported within the UK. These are usually small and short-lived, however may cause structural harm in the event that they go over built-up areas.”