The Met Office has warned Britons that a tornado could hit as severe thunderstorms are set to strike the UK within hours.
The forecaster warned parts of the country “could start to see tornado activity” later on Saturday as a yellow thunderstorm weather warning comes into force.
The alert covering all of northern England, from Nottingham up to above Newcastle, will be in place from 5pm until 3am on Sunday. The Met Office said the most intense storms could produce “frequent lightning, large hail and gusty winds”, along with a chance of flooding.
Jonathan Vautrey, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said the forecaster will also be “looking out for the potential of tornado activity” and “can’t rule it out”.
He told The Independent: “Lots of ingredients have to come together to produce it, but there is the potential as we head into, particularly this evening, once the thunderstorm warning comes in, we could start to see tornado activity in regards to that system… We can’t rule it out. It’s something we’ll be monitoring across the course of the day, but it’s difficult to pinpoint a location.”
However, Mr Vautrey explained that the areas most likely to see a tornado, if one does hit the UK, will be those covered by the storm warning on Saturday evening and into the night, adding that the storm system is expected to develop across northern England and south east Scotland.
He said: “Our main focus point is the warning area itself. This is the area where we’ve got the greatest chance of seeing severe thunderstorms into the course of the evening and start of the night – [and] the main area where we’ll be looking out for the potential of tornado activity.”
The scattered thunderstorms are set to mix with continued high temperatures on Saturday, with up to 34C possible in some areas. Parts of eastern England could see temperatures peak high enough to eclipse the 32.2C seen on Thursday and become the hottest day of the year so far.
An amber heat-health alert for all regions in England is also in place for the whole of the weekend, after heatwaves were triggered across the county and in Wales on Friday.
