Tornado over Formby today

Aug 31, 20152 min read

At approximately 2pm this afternoon, there was what looked like a Tornado/Twister over Formby. What a sight it was! It formed across the skies of West Lancashire this afternoon shocking residents and could be seen as it made its way down the Sefton coast.

On average England is hit by about 34 tornadoes a year – which works out at 2.2 per 10,000km sq. While they may be more commonly associated with the US, in films such as Twister or sweeping Dorothy from Kansas in The Wizard Of Oz, the large size of America means that its average number of tornadoes is just 1.3 per 10,000km sq each year.

Tornadoes usually last for a few hours and measure roughly a quarter of a mile across. They are caused by warm air and cold air colliding during storms.

Tornadoes have caused destruction costing millions of pounds in England – as well as injuries.

A 2005 twister in Birmingham that recorded speeds of 130mph injured 19 people, causing £40million of damage and tearing up more than 1,000 trees. And, in just two minutes, a tornado in Kensal Green, North-West London, wrecked property worth £10million in December 2006.

After the Thames Valley, the most likely to be affected was an area from Bristol through Birmingham to Manchester, which had almost a 5 per cent chance of a twister striking.

An area stretching from the north-east of London to Ipswich had a 4 per cent chance of tornado, while the south coast of Wales had a 3 per cent likelihood.

The peak season was from May to October, according to the study of land-based tornadoes from 1980 to 2012, which appears in the journal Monthly Weather Review.

A few people sent photos in and we would love to see more. If you managed to get any shots of it, please send them to us at info@formbybubble.com