Northampton hit - but where did the tornado come from?
Northampton was hit by a mini tornado on Monday morning.
An expert said conditions were "favourable" for the severe storms, and according to the Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Torro), in terms of size, England has the highest number of reported tornadoes.
Torro said: "The country with the highest number of reported tornadoes per unit area is England, whose area corresponds roughly with Oklahoma, but many of the latter's tornadoes are more violent."
Forecaster Paul Knightley, a director of Torro, said the "quirky" statistic could be partly due to England being fairly densely populated, with people more likely to spot tornadoes.
He also emphasised that England does not tend to see tornadoes of the same violence as other countries.
Mr Knightley said a "vicious" line of cold air overnight, surging forward like a wave and forcing warm air upwards, had set the conditions for tornadoes to occur.
A squall-line of very intense winds of between 55-65mph ran through the Midlands and southern England.
Mr Knightley said that strong winds were reported in Wiltshire between 5-6am.
They were reported between 6-7am from the Midlands down to Hampshire, hitting Coventry at 6.15-6.30am.
Describing the differences between a "squall patch" and a tornado, Mr Knightley said the former was a large area of winds, measuring perhaps 10-15 miles and blowing downwards.
A tornado, which typically lasts for a few minutes, is a twisting column of air in a more concentrated area, spiralling upwards.
"The two often go hand in hand," he said. "Where you get squalls, you can have tornadoes as well.
"Sometimes it is unequivocal because someone has got a picture of it or saw it."
Mr Knightley said tornadoes tend to hit during the warmer months, particularly in autumn.
The prevalence of tornadoes can also depend on whether wind is blowing higher up in the atmosphere, allowing storms to rotate.
In November 1981 as many as 105 tornados hit Britain in under six hours as a cold front crossed from North West to South East.
And 148 tornadoes hit the US in April 1974 within 16 hours in 13 states, of which 48 caused 315 deaths.
On average, 33 tornadoes are reported each year in the UK, though it is thought that many go unreported.
The website said that most tornado reports in the UK are from the western and eastern Midlands, central southern England, south eastern England and East Anglia. They tend to be rare in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Last December saw a tornado rip through Kensal Rise in north London, destroying houses, cars and trees - but miraculously no one was seriously hurt.
And in 1954 a tornado hit west and north London, injuring 12, during a very heavy thunderstorm which destroyed Gunnersbury Tube station and lifted a car 15ft into the air at Acton.
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Weather for Northampton
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
