A tornado has appeared to overturn a caravan and leave buildings and vehicles damaged in northwest England, as strong winds batter much of the UK.
High winds and heavy showers have been sweeping across the England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with coastal areas experiencing gusts of up to 55mph.
Pictures showed an overturned caravan in St Giles Road, in the Staffordshire village of Knutton, with the conditions also leaving roofs, sheds, fencing and cars damaged.
David Hemming said he was at work on Monday when the strong winds hit his home, pushing his caravan onto its side on his driveway and smashing it into his camper van.
“It was just one big gust of wind,” he said. “I was at work, I was just leaving and I looked at the camera on the house before I left, and my caravan was on its side and had smashed into my van.
“There are two sheds gone at the back. It has destroyed all the fence panels. It was just 20 seconds and then that was it, it had gone.”
Image: An overturned caravan in Knutton after high winds swept through the area. Pic: PA
He added: “It must have been a tornado from all the damage it has done. It’s just gone straight through the street.”
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The road has been cordoned off by Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Image: Buildings in Staffordshire were also damaged by the conditions. Pic: PA
‘Tiles flying everywhere’
Neighbour Michael Wearing said Mr Hemming’s shed ended up in his back garden.
“It was definitely a tornado, without a shadow of a doubt,” he said. “You heard it winding up, it sounded like a Hoover starting up.”
Mr Wearing’s front window was smashed by flying debris and his van windscreen is too damaged for him to be able to drive it.
“Someone has had a trampoline through their roof, there were tiles flying everywhere,” he added.
Image: Emergency services cordoned off a road in Knutton following the extreme weather. Pic: PA
‘Particularly impactful winds’
The Met Office said it was not possible to verify if the strong gusts in Staffordshire were a tornado, but added the winds “had some potential” to create them.
Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon told Sky News: “The fronts moving southwards this morning had the potential for short-lived tornadoes to develop which could have caused impacts for some.
“Tornadoes do happen in the UK and are generally short-lived. Around 30 a year are reported in the UK, on average.”
He added such events are normally not captured by radar imagery and can “only be assessed by looking at the evidence on the ground”.
“Today, there have been some reports of some particularly impactful winds,” he said.
The Met Office website defines a tornado as a “rapidly rotating column of air that reaches the base of a storm cloud and the Earth’s surface”.
Image: A damaged vehicle is towed away from Knutton. Pic: PA
Bridges, parks and attractions closed
Bridges, parks and National Trust sites across the UK were forced to close due to the windy conditions, amid warnings gusts could reach 45mph inland.
The M48 Severn Bridge was closed early on Monday in both directions as a result of the high winds.
In Yorkshire, the Humber Bridge was forced to close to certain vehicles, including motorhomes, cars with roof boxes, motorcycles and high-sided heavy goods vehicles.
Image: A damaged roof is inspected in Knutton. Pic: PA
Parks were shut across London including sections of Hampstead Heath, West Ham park and playgrounds in Regents Park, Greenwich Park and Hyde Park.
Kew Gardens announced it would not be opening on Monday due to “adverse weather conditions”.
Tourist attractions including parts of Dover Castle and Ainsdale Beach in Southport were also forced to close.
Image: The yellow weather warning for wind covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Pic: Met Office
Drier conditions set to move in
The Met Office’s yellow warning for wind – covering the whole of Northern Ireland, Wales and England as far north as Cumbria – is in place until 10pm on Monday.
Showers are expected across many areas until Friday before drier conditions are set to move in, according to forecasters.
Mr Dixon said: “By the time we get to the weekend, there’s a signal for higher pressure to build in from the southwest which would settle things down in terms of rainfall totals.”
It comes after some parts of the UK experienced unusually warm temperatures in recent days, with 21.8C (71.2F) recorded in Writtle, Essex, on Saturday.
The teacher of one of the Southport stabbing victims has told Sky News they “don’t want her to be forgotten”, 10 months after the knife attack in which she was murdered.
Seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe was killed along with Bebe King, six, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar in an attack by Axel Rudakubana at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last July.
Jennifer Sephton, headteacher of Farnborough Road Infant School, will be skydiving to raise funds for the Elsie’s Story charitable trust, which has been set up in memory of the former pupil.
Image: (L-R) Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King were killed in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class
“She’d been with us for four years, throughout her education,” Ms Sephton told Sky News, “and we just want everybody to know Elsie’s spirit.”
Describing Elsie as “such a determined young lady,” Ms Sephton said Elsie had “a real zest for life, and a sparkle in her eye all the time.”
She added that Elsie’s Story, which has been set up by Elsie’s family, is about “continuing that legacy.”
Image: Jennifer Sephton
In the aftermath of the July 2024 attack, the gates outside Elsie’s school were lined with flowers, balloons, and cards bearing her name.
Since then, memorial benches and a tree have been planted in the school grounds, providing pupils and staff with a place to “remember and reflect”, Ms Sefton says.
“[Elsie’s death] had such an impact on all our community,” the teacher said, “it’s had an impact on her friends, their siblings, our school as a community and our staff.”
Ms Sephton will be joined in the skydive by Adrian Antell, headteacher at the adjoining junior school where Elsie had been due to start.
“Elsie was due to come to us last September,” he told Sky News, “but what we’ve learned about her is that she had a wonderful impact in the infant school, and we don’t want her to be forgotten.
“We want her name to have to live on and to be thought of in a positive way.”
Mr Antell said they continue to support Elsie’s classmates, who joined the new school without her.
“There’s no instruction manual for this,” he explained, “every day is different, and every day is one step at a time.
“So all we can do as a school is to think about individual children and support them in the best way we can.”
Scientists from Kew Gardens are using a new study to track which trees bees prefer to try to stem the decline in our vital pollinators.
Bee populations are falling all over the world due to a mixture of habitat loss, climate change, and the use of pesticides, with a devastating impact on our biodiversity and food production.
But it’s feared that not enough comprehensive, global research is being done to understand the issue or find solutions.
Image: The study is building up heat maps of the most popular trees
Image: Non-invasive monitors track the buzz created by bees’ wing beats
UK becoming a no-fly zone
Researchers based at Wakehurst in Sussex, known as Kew’s “Wild Botanic Garden”, have begun placing advanced bio-acoustics sensors in some of their trees to track which ones bees favour.
They hope it’ll help urban planners know which trees to plant in built-up areas, as a way of combating the worrying decline in bee numbers.
Pollination research lead Dr Janine Griffiths-Lee said: “Nearly 90% of our flowering plants depend on the contribution of pollinators, but in the UK the population of flying insects in the last 20 years has decreased by around 60%.
“It’s really hard to be able to put a figure on the decline of our pollinators, but we do know that globally the number is declining.
“And with that comes crop yield instability and the loss of an essential ecosystem service.”
Their new, non-invasive monitors listen for the buzz created by bees’ wing beats, building up heat maps of the most popular spots.
Image: Bio-acoustics sensors are placed in trees to track which ones the bees are more drawn to
‘We’re facing twin crises’
Dr Griffiths-Lee said: “If you think about the tree’s footprint, it’s very small, but they’re huge 3D structures covered in pollen and nectar, which are essential resources of pollinators.
“So we really wanted to think about which are the best trees for bees for us to plant, and that can inform landscape planners, urban architects.”
Eight different species of tree were chosen for the study, including horse chestnut and lime trees, with a mixture of native and non-native species.
The scientists have also been gathering DNA from pollen, which also helps them to map which plants and flowers the insects prefer.
Wakehurst’s director, Susan Raikes, calls the 535-acre estate a “living laboratory”, and said the project’s all about searching for nature-based solutions to the impacts of climate change.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher, really. We know that we’re facing these twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change,” she added.
“We need to be able to understand, as the climate changes, which plants from warmer climes will be good here in the UK for pollinators in the future.
“If all of our native plants are struggling, then we need to find new sources of pollen – for us all to survive.”
Football pundit Gary Neville is to miss coverage of the Premier League finale on Sunday after being banned by Nottingham Forest, whose owner he recently criticised.
Neville had been due to commentate on Forest’s game against Chelsea on Sky Sports, which is being billed as a Champions League qualification shoot-out with both teams aiming for a top five finish.
But posting on Instagram, the former Manchester United and England defender said the broadcaster told him on Thursday that Forest “would not give me an accreditation or access to the stadium as a co-commentator”.
“I’ve had no choice but to withdraw from the coverage,” he added.
“I’ve dished out my fair share of criticism and praise in the last 14 years of doing this job and have never come close to this unprecedented action.”
Image: Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis (R) with manager Nuno Espirito Santo after the Premier League match against Leicester. Pic: Sky Sports News/PA
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Neville said while Forest “have every right to choose who they let into their own stadium”, it was “disappointing that a great club […] have been reduced to making such a decision”.
He said “it’s symptomatic of things that have happened over the last 12 months with the club”.
Sky Sports described Forest’s move as “an unprecedented and unwelcome step” and said it has decided “to present the game from Sky Studios in west London.
“As he was no longer able to commentate from the ground, Gary has chosen to not be part of the coverage on Sunday – a decision fully supported by Sky.”
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Neville has been highly critical of Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.
He described Marinakis walking on to the pitch and exchanging words with head coach Nuno Espirito Santo after the club’s draw with Leicester earlier this month as “scandalous”.
Neville urged Nuno to quit the club and his social media post further enraged Marinakis, who had threatened Sky with legal action over comments made by the pundit earlier in the season.
After Forest’s 2-0 defeat at Everton last year, the club issued a statement on social media questioning the integrity of video assistant referee Stuart Atwell after claiming they had been denied three penalties.
Neville’s response to that, comparing Forest’s actions to those of a “mafia gang”, prompted an apology from Sky after they had been contacted by Marinakis’ lawyers.