BBC TV South Today said a tornado had been seen and was asking for photos to be sent in. I was in the Hillier Gardens around mid-day on the way to Quercus arizonica when the rain increased and despite wearing wet weather gear I decided to check the coordinates in the Help The Aged shelter overlooking the pond. Suddenly a violent squall hit, lasting but five or ten minutes. Several trees were damaged and there were road diversions going home. Shades of Graham's sonnet (or Shakespeare's, rather).

I wonder if any of your weather sites have it?

A quick search revealehttp://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Tornado-Weather-Causes-Storm-As-Tornado-Hits-Towns-In-South-Easts-Hampshire/Article/200911115431958

Indeed at lunchtime as the cold front went through there was a short burst of very heavy rain in NW London too. It then cleared rapidly just as lunch break ended (typical...). On the evening news (ITV London) they said tornados had been reported further south. Given the rain radar and the appearance of the clouds I am not totally surprised. Mid afternoon another shower came through with some cool looking clouds seen from my limited view from my desk as it moved in.

It still disappoints me that they have to get the word 'freak' in there to describe the weather. It is not freak weather at all. Tornados are not that uncommon in the UK... They just aren't as powerful as the headline grabbing US tornado alley ones, but they are just as numerous if I understand right.

Looking ahttp://www.sat24.com/history.aspx?country=gb and selecting 1300 on 3rd November you can pull up the satpics and animate through them as the front goes through. The clouds look the most spectacular to the south.

-Mike

We did get a report at TORRO and the events are being investigated by my TORRO colleagues.. on average in the U.K. mile for mile we do get more tornado events than the U.S thankfully, mostly, they are not as destructive, as I suppose we don't have the land mass to support and create them....IanL..

Indeed it is the same with thermals. Because this is an island on the end of the gulf stream, we don't have the land track for the air to get convecting enough to produce the spectacularly strong and high thermals (and thunderstorms to match) that they get in the continents, especially at lower lattitudes where more of the sun's energy is available too.

The UK is almost continually influenced by the sea. And because the air coming off the gulf stream is warm and moist it is hard to heat it up much further thereby allowing convection to get out of control like it does when tornados form.

Having said that, this week the air is coming from a cold moist unstable source (polar air coming round the current resident low pressure system via Greenland and Iceland and then to us). This air should convect very easily, which is why we are seeing showers form and lots of troughs and fronts on the synoptic charts, as well as the temperature drop from the recent 'indian summer' (caused by African air reaching us).

Sorry - couldn't resist the quirky/quercus alliteration

Yes, it is true that mini -tornadoes in the British Isles are frequent, but luckily the damage to people & property is much less than in Tornado Alley in the USA. Even so, they can often do damage which seems random but intense in a very small area. I have personally seen a tornado 'squall' lift a wooden garden shed up off its base in a neighbour's garden, lift it over my garden and then drop it into the garden of the neighbour on the other side. This almost caused a huge argument with possible fisticuffs, until I intervened and told the sparring fellas that a) one person could not have done it without using a crane, b) the accused was not at home at the time and c) the wind did it and I had actually seen it happen. It was only the fact that I could prove that I had trained as a meteorologist that eventually caused them to believe me.
By the way 'H' Quercus A.... is a variety of Oak tree I was unaware of. Sounds interesting. I'm a tree affidionado too. Hope the tornado did not damage it. GWW

Hi we were working in Thatcham so never see the tornado but see plenty of heavy showers and some very interesting clouds building in the afternoon-then mostly dissipating{i think?}I shall be working nearr that area tomorrow so shall keep my eye's peeled!

I remember seeing a long funnel cloud hanging over where I live but it didn't touch down. I got plenty of photos...they're on disc somewhere. It was the day before the major summer floods a couple of years ago. So I heard, it wasn't the only funnel cloud/tornado recorded that day.
I was really excited seeing it though...:D