UK Weather Update: Britons Expected To Encounter Isolated Tornadoes

Weather experts warned residents of the United Kingdom against isolated tornadoes after a yellow wind warning has been raised over South East England.

Freak Weather Events

The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (TORRO) explained that tornadoes, "misocyclones" and a "low-topped supercell or two" could be felt in the evening as well as on Thursday.

They said that the areas, which are placed at the highest risk of freak weather events, are Central England, the Midlands, East Anglia, and the South East.

Meteorologists noted that there could also be strong gusts in Wales.

Weather officials forecasted that a cold front would cross the area overnight and on Thursday, with one or more waves developing along it, in response to an upper short-wave trough.

Several areas of precipitation should accompany this, with some embedded convection possible.

This weather condition may result in one or more lines, and perhaps some cellular activity too. The lines may include misocyclones, and a low-topped supercell or two is possible in any discrete convection.

Overnight, parts of Wales will experience one or two lines of showery rain, and then later tonight and on Thursday, another area of showery rain, with lines and possible cells, will cross parts of central and southern England.

Both of these sets of showery rain may also bring squally gusts.

Further, the small chance of one or two brief tornadoes - the highest chance of gusts and isolated tornadoes appears to be over parts of Central Southern England, the SE Midlands, E Anglia, and SE England later on Thursday morning as well as into Thursday afternoon.

The warning came after the Met Office issued an urgent yellow weather warning for rain as large parts of the country are forecasted to be hammered in the downpour.

The warning for tomorrow covers London, southeast England, east of England, and southwest England from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening.

It also covers cities such as Reading, Brighton and Dorset.

The Met Office warned that millions of Britons could face travel interruptions and power disruptions as heavy rainfall could widely result in localized floods.

Most Violent Weather Types

Weather experts defined tornadoes as one of the most violent and dramatic weather types on the planet and demonstrate the awesome destructive power of our turbulent atmosphere.

A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air that reaches between the base of a storm cloud and the Earth's surface. They form in very unsettled weather conditions as part of severe thunderstorms.

Many conditions need to be present for a tornado to form but, when these conditions are met, a violently whirling mass of air, known as a vortex, forms beneath the storm cloud.

A funnel cloud usually develops as the vortex forms due to the reduced pressure in the vortex. Strong inflowing winds intensify, and the spin rate increases as the vortex stretches vertically.

Meteorologists noted that if it continues stretching and intensifying for long enough the vortex touches the ground, at which point it becomes classified as a tornado.

The tornado will then move across the surface causing severe damage or destruction to objects in its path.