Scots on the east coast were in a whirl today after a tornado appeared in Midlothian during a yellow thunderstorm alert.
The waterspout-style cyclone was spotted over water off the coast of Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon, prompting locals to share dramatic videos of the wild weather on social media. Footage shared by Edinburgh woman Lisa Millar showed the huge whirlwind gathering mass over the Firth of Forth as awestruck onlookers watched.
Posting the clip, she wrote on Twitter: "Never seen a tornado before in Midlothian." A yellow "be aware" warning for thunderstorms is currently in effect across most of central, eastern and north-eastern Scotland, covering Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, parts of Glasgow and the capital.
The alert is in place until the early hours of Wednesday, with violent thunder and lightning reported on the east coast. The waterspout was visible from all over the Lothians, with one video being shared from the Midlothian town of Bonnyrigg.
Twitter user @aislingtho said of her clip: "Never seen anything like it. It went right by our house. The video doesn't capture how intense it was."
Tornadic waterspouts, as they are known among meteorologists, are rare. But Greg Dewhurst, a forecaster at the Met Office, says that the inclement conditions are ripe for unusual weather phenomena like the spiral seen in the sky over Scotland.
He said: "We've seen a couple of videos today showing this and it's down to the atmosphere, the current low pressure system. The air is unstable, there's thunderstorms and the energy of the atmosphere is helping to create these.
"This began as a funnel cloud - which is a tornado that doesn't reach the ground. When it reaches the ground it becomes a tornado, but when it reaches water it becomes a waterspout.
"This is a very good example of a waterspout but people shouldn't worry unless they're on the water or in a boat. If you're on land, and the spout is over water, everyone can just enjoy the sights. They don't last very long either."
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