With weather being top of most Londoners' moaning agenda you would think we would notice regular hits by mini tornadoes.
However it seems most of us are completely unaware that Britain experiences more of these weather anomalies than anywhere else in the world.
The Chronicle spoke to an Isleworth man who last week witnessed one spinning through his garden and taking his shrubbery with it.
Kevin Watts, an On Board Manger with British Airways, was sitting in his Loring Road living room last Wednesday when he witnessed the wind cyclone tearing through his front garden.
“I was just watching TV when I heard this tremendous rumble and saw my Cyprus Lelandii tree spinning in the garden,” said 54-year-old Kevin. “The top of the tree is at the other end of the garden to the bottom end.
“If it was just strong wind. it would have snapped off and fallen right next to the base.”
Many experienced the torrential rain and powerful winds that ripped through the borough on Wednesday, with a spokesman from the Met office saying these sort of conditions are quite common as we move in to spring.
Met Office forecaster Byron Shalcraft explained how Kevin's tornado suspicions could very well be true, saying: “It's very possible that this was a tornado in Isleworth.
“Small, weak tornadoes are quite common in this country, more than people realise in fact. They don't last very long and tend not to do any structural damage.
“But for the size and area of the country we have one of the highest incidents of tornadoes in the world, with 40 to 50 observed each year – and that's just the ones which are reported to us, there will be many more.”
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