Tornado caught on camera in Cambridgeshire (video)

Many parts of Britain have been hit by heavy rain and electrical storms over the last few days.

But, in Cambridgeshire, the weird weather has gone one further - and a tornado was filmed whirling through the countryside, reports the Metro.

And it was also spotted by a mother doing the school run in St Neots.

Catherine Parkinson was on the way to pick her daughter up from school when she stopped at a red light and looked up to see a 'tornado'.

She told the Cambridge News: "There was a massive bank of black cloud and I just saw it out of the corner of my eye.

"It suddenly came down from the clouds and stretched out behind the trees off in the distance.

"It swirled around and then it just disappeared."

But meteorologist Emma Sharples said unless the 'twister' hits the ground it's not technically a tornado.

She told the paper: "I've seen some pictures this evening and it looks like what would be the start of a tornado which is called a funnel cloud.

"When you have heavy showers you have air rising and falling and it's just an evolution of that really."

She added that around 30 tornadoes hit the UK every year, but that they are often out at sea or in remote locations.

Back in May, a mini tornado struck a pub car park - in Worcester.

The unusual phenomenon was caught on camera by tiler Ross Withers, 24, who spotted the 20ft tall twister while enjoying a drink with friends in Cripplegate Park on Saturday 3 May.

The tornado was seen swirling around near cars and people, before it then fizzled out near a fence.

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud.

Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but they are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust.

Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour, are about 250 feet across, and travel a few miles before dissipating.

The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 miles per hour, stretch more than two miles across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles.

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