Have you ever seen a funnel cloud in Britain?

[Frosticle]

Have you ever seen a funnel cloud (or a tornado) on these shores? If so, when and where? Texas or Oklahoma don't count...

I was obsessed with tornadoes since watching Savage Skies as a child, and always wanted to see one. Unbelievably, I got my wish in Leitrim, Ireland (of all places) in September 2005.

Not one, but two.

There were no storms, barely even any showers, that warm afternoon when I was out cycling. Just a muggy, slightly overcast afternoon. But around 4pm I remember seeing an unusually dark and 'hanging' cloud bank. (I later learned this was an approaching cold front off the Atlantic).

I thought I'd keep an eye on it, as us weather geeks do, as it looked ominous.

And when I looked again I got the shock of my life.

A beautiful, dark perfectly-formed funnel was hanging down over the countryside just a few miles away from me. I vividly remember almost literally dancing in the road in happiness. I had an uninterrupted view for perhaps 30 minutes as it hardly moved.

The thing I remember is how still the air was; such a contrast as I watched the slowly spinning end of the funnel.

Incredibly, as it dissipated, another one formed in the far distance, this time a vivid white condensation funnel against the dark sky above some mountains. I've never forgotten it; my favourite weather memory ever - I only wish camera phones were more popular then!

I'd love to hear stories from anyone else who has seen this most incredible phenomena. 

[Mike Upjohn]

Yep, I saw a funnel cloud in Winsford, Cheshire in June 2020 about 1/2 a mile from me. Video is on here. Didn't touch down but certainly was surface-based supercell.

Video captures phenomenal moment tornado funnel cloud appears over Winsford - Cheshire Live

WWW.CHESHIRE-LIVE.CO.UK

---

Mike Upjohn raced to the scene to film the twister after recognising the signs

 

[Freeze]

I saw one pass almost directly over shoreham airport once, not even a thunderstorm, just a warm muggy day.

Not my video, but the only thing I could find.

Edited August 12 by Freeze

[Metwatch]

Several scud clouds yes, but proper funnel clouds i'd say no. There was one in Warwickshire also In June 2020 which a friend about 5 miles of me east saw but I couldn't quite seem to catch it. Whether it was due me being west of it or obscured by cloud, not too sure.

They're a bit more rare here than coastal areas, but at the same time, the strongest tornadoes in the UK also tend to happen in the Midlands, particularly the Birmingham area; a lot less frequent than funnel clouds obviously.

[Frosticle]

 Metwatch I could be wrong, but I'm sure the strongest (or more frequent?) tornadoes and funnel clouds in the UK occur in a narrow corridor from central southern England up into the northern home counties. To the west of London; places like Berkshire and Oxfordshire. I could be completely wrong but I'm sure I read that.

[MP-R]

I've seen ones in August 2005, July 2008, April 2016 and August 2020. Also saw a waterspout in January 2004.

[Metwatch]

23 minutes ago, Frosticle said:

the strongest (or more frequent?) tornadoes and funnel clouds in the UK occur in a narrow corridor from central southern England up into the northern home counties. To the west of London; places like Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

Yeah, around Birmingham and also that south east area, PhD thesis in 2015 by a Uni of Manchester student on UK tornado climatology: https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/61847621/FULL_TEXT.PDF

The areas of the UK most likely to have a tornado are:

Between London and Reading                                                                   6% chance per year of a tornado occurring within 10km of a given location

From Bristol, north to Birmingham and Manchester                         5%

Northeast of London to Ipswich                                                               4%

South coast of Wales near Swansea                                                        3%

 

 

Then a map of all tornado touchdowns 1981-2010:

Edited August 13 by Metwatch

[Dami]

Yes i did over the South Downs when i was a kid.  Unfortunately no pic as this was in the 80's.  

[Rush2019]

First photo was Macclesfield on 10/7/2021 at 12.41pm.

Second photo was an absolute cracker in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire on 9/8/2018.   Had a long hot summer in 2018.

Also witnessed rotating fragmented pannus or scud cloud on a number of occasions.

 

[GreyCrag]

Just the once from my own home, I tried finding a photo I took of it but we're talking well over +15 years ago and it was on a 'snap+shoot' so it mostly turned out to be a blob of cloud anyway compared to what was visually seen. It formed from a eastern moving split-cell which developed over Manchester with the southern side spinning up a brief Funnel that was initially rain-wrapped but became evident once the PPN had moved.

Most notable was the rotation and size as it was quite a large FC but there was no reports of it ever making the ground, in recent years there's been sightings of FC/Tornadoes at Poynton, Great Hucklow, Stalybridge, but i've only ever seen the one (so far) even whilst chasing.

[Freeze]

 Metwatch quite a lot of touchdowns around my area of the southcoast, suprising. 

[Alderc 2.0]

Never ever had a sniff, closest I can was missing a brief waterspout in August a few years back by about ten minutes.

[Derecho]

I saw a waterspout off the coast of the Humber back in the summer of 2002 and it briefly touched the water. Was only 13 at the time and was amazed to see it. I just went out of ASDA with my parents and looked to the left and there it was!

I've seen a few funnel clouds in the US but no tornadoes yet!

Meanwhile my stepdad has seen 4 funnel clouds across the Humberside area!

Edited August 20 by Derecho

[mike5900]

Yes probably 20-25 years ago. North of here.

[ThomasD27]

I saw a funnel cloud on May 7th 2023. It formed from a very isolated small shower, whipped up by convergence from the Humber estuary.

Interestingly, just 2 months earlier, I got to see a mesocyclone directly above my house during a weak thunderstorm. This was really exciting as I managed to get readings from my weather station. I believe the torrential rain that followed it could have been the rear flank downdraft. The changes in wind direction are fascinating.

 

I also saw what I believe to be a weak elevated funnel during a big thunderstorm on May 26th of this year. It looked quite apparent, tubular and smooth to the eye but was incredibly difficult to photograph. I'm not too sure how well it will show up when uploaded to this forum, so the second image is an edited attempt to make it stand out a bit. This was directly above my house again, so I got some readings from underneath it. Notice the sudden change in wind direction, which was exactly the same time the funnel appeared (highlighted in yellow). This leads me to believe it could well have been a proper funnel from the updraft of the storm, though I'm unsure.

Just yesterday at sunset, a horseshoe vortex cloud popped up right above me.  They are technically a type of funnel cloud but it might be cheating to include it here. Again, very tricky to photograph, but it was definitely there. I would wager that the strong low level wind shear helped spin it up.

 

Edited August 20 by ThomasD27
removed an attachment

[Cirrusly Snowy]

Yup 15th June 2009. Damaged a few roofs. Was (and to this day) the blackest sky I'd ever seen. 

https://www.buntingford.com/tornado/tornado.htm

Edited August 20 by Cirrusly Snowy

[IslaArklayblend]

Yes.  Only once.  Over the hills between Lochwinnoch and Largs (North Ayrshire?).   Mid-1970s.

[Andy Bown]

Yes, a tornado on 24th October 2001 at about 17.00 in Westbury, Wiltshire. Absolute ripper of a 2 minutes it was! 
 

I was walking near my home in a blustery shower and heard a noise. Looked to my left and there it was several hundred metres away from me. 
 

Numerous houses had damaged roofs including some brand new ones. 
 

Unbelievable and it wasn’t thundery in the slightest! 

Edited August 22 by Andy Bown

[lassie23]

i saw one but it didn't touch down it just whirled around like a loon before dissolving away

[Norrance]

Yes I have seen a funnel cloud even up here and also very briefly a tornado as one touched down for a minute or so in the hills in East Fife in the late nineties.

Edited August 22 by Norrance

[Norrance]

Here are a couple of pics from the Isle of Lewis a few years ago. Didn't personally see those but we witnessed another that happened in Stornoway the week before we were going to get the first ever Sunday ferry from the island back to the mainland.. The ferry also broke down that Sunday due to divine intervention as did our car!

Edited August 22 by Norrance

[Scuba steve]

Several including a waterspout going up the duddon estuary 

[Summer8906]

Once, in September 1993, either Thursday 23rd or Friday 24th.

This was from the Dorset coast a little east of Weymouth.

The weather was not that unsettled: very calm with fairly bright weather and some weak convective clouds but one of them did produce a funnel cloud. There was no rain nearby IIRC. The synoptic charts suggest a col or very weak high with fairly low uppers.

Edited September 4 by Summer8906

[Shane]

Never been as lucky to see one, apart from pictures/videos on here or online, saying that you need to have storms in your area for that to happen  

[Azazel]

Yes - during the dreadful summer of 2021.