People have been warned about a 'tornado' that could form as Storm Franklin batters Britain.
The twister alert was sounded by the Oldham Weather twitter account, which warned of 'isolated tornadoes', the Manchester Evening News reports.
The independent account @ChadWeather also warned of 70mph gusts and cloud-to-ground lightning.
The Met Office has issued a number of weather warning after naming Storm Franklin, which follows Storm Dudley and Storm Eunice.
There was widespread damage caused by Eunice on Friday and four lives were lost in the UK and Ireland.
The Met Office has today issued an amber warning for wind which could cause “travel delays, road and rail closures, power cuts and the potential risk to life and property” in Northern Ireland from midnight until 7am on Monday.
Milder yellow warnings for wind cover England, Wales and the south-western edge of Scotland for midday until 3pm on Sunday, and for the same period on Monday.Storm Dudley also hit parts of the UK last week, and meteorologist Becky Mitchell said three named storms in such quick succession is a first since the system was introduced seven years ago.
She told the PA news agency: “This is the first time we have had three named storms within a week, and we started the storm naming system in 2015.
“At the moment we’ve got a really active jet stream, which is why we’re seeing so many storms track right towards the UK.
“We had Dudley on Wednesday, Eunice on Friday and Franklin today.”
Environment agencies have also issued hundreds of alerts for flooding across the UK, including two “severe” warnings where rainfall could cause a “danger to life” for communities along the River Mersey in Greater Manchester.
Gusts of 60-70mph are predicted to hit inland Northern Ireland in the early hours of Monday morning, while 80mph speeds are expected on the coast.
Strong winds are also expected in England and Wales on Sunday afternoon, with 60mph gales predicted inland and 70mph in coastal areas.
