As Storm Ciarán continues to sweep across Southern England, weather experts have raised alarm over two possible tornados hitting the UK.
On Wednesday evening, The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) released an alert about a tornado watch in southern parts of the country.
In place until the morning of November 2, the alert showed a map that appeared to depict what areas are at risk of tornadoes.
“The highest risk of one or two tornadoes would likely be along and south of a line from South Wales to London, but the risk cannot be ruled out a bit further north too, hence the Watch box extending into the Midlands and East Anglia," a representative from TORRO was quoted as saying.
TORRO's tornado watch was only in place until this morning, and no further alert has been released by the agency or the Met Office.
Interestingly, however, tornadoes in the UK are more common than we think. According to the Met Office, around 30 tornadoes are reported across the British Isles each year.
As tornadoes usually need to be identified by humans, there's also a chance that more have taken place without us knowing.
How are tornadoes formed?
Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes and are often formed during severe thunderstorms, sometimes known as supercell thunderstorms.
Differences in temperature between the atmosphere help this current of air spin, and then changing wind direction makes it rotate horizontally.
More wind then tilts the rotating air column downwards, leading to the formation of a tornado dropping down from the clouds.
Tornadoes can be slim or can be very wide in diameter, with the largest tornado being 2.6 miles wide.
In the UK, tornadoes usually only cause light damage and have weak power, unlike more reported incidents of tornadoes happening in the US.
Why does the UK have tornadoes?
According to The Conversation, the UK has three "tornado alleys".
A tornado alley is an area where cold and warm air clash, making it a prime spot for the creation of tornadoes. Most of these areas are located in southern England.
The most famous tornado alley runs down the center of the United States and is where most powerful tornadoes strike the US.
Scientists admitted that they still didn't quite know why the UK had such a high frequency of weak tornadoes. There's also a lot less research taking place on UK tornadoes in comparison to other regions like the US.
Yet, there have been a lot of reports about tornadoes hitting the UK as of late. The most recent was a tornado that swept through Littlehampton on October 28.
