Dad spots massive tornado in sky above Yorkshire but isn't afraid for one reason

A dad says he wasn't afraid of dying when he saw a massive‘tornado’in the sky - thanks to the 1996 film Twister.

Dramatic footage shows the moment a large 'tornado' was spotted forming above a village in the British countryside. Bradleigh Hancock, 47, captured video of the weather phenomenon as it appeared along the A62 near Marsden, West Yorkshire, on Monday. He had been driving towards the village near Huddersfield with wife Claire and his 17-year-old daughter when she looked towards the sky and asked: “Is that a tornado?” The shocked dad pulled over and started filming the swirling vortex of clouds as it stretched down from the sky.

The plasterer said he was unfazed by the tornado and joked he "knew what to do" having watched the 1996 film Twister.

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Bradleigh, who has lived in Marsden for 20 years, said: “It lasted for about two minutes and then the bottom came up and it disappeared. I thought I was still filming but I wasn’t, I hadn’t pressed record so I didn’t get it going up in to the air.

"I didn’t even think about getting in the car and driving off. If it’s your time, it’s your time. I’ve seen Twister, I know what you’ve got to do. I haven’t seen Twister 2 yet though.”

According to the Met Office, the video could indeed be of a tornado, or it could be a funnel cloud.

A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “It certainly looks like it could be a tornado but without seeing it touch the ground it isn't possible to confirm it isn't a funnel cloud. It is only a tornado if it touches the ground."

The Met Office say funnel clouds are cone-shaped clouds which extend from the base of a cloud without touching the surface. They form when a rotating column of wind draws in cloud droplets to make a region of intense low pressure visible.

The weather agency says the UK sees around 30 to 35 tornadoes each year, but it’s rare they’re strong enough to cause significant damage.

In a post on X, the Met Office said: “We’ve seen a few videos like this over recent days...When you think of tornadoes, you might imagine the massive twisters tearing through the central US. But did you know that the UK has one of the highest numbers of tornadoes per land area in the world?”