Residents on the Isle of Lewis witnessed a threatening yet spectacular piece of nature this weekend.
A twister was spotted roaming off the island on Saturday with residents describing it as “frightening”.
One person who lives on the island said: “I saw it over the Point area and it was pretty frightening at first.
“I thought it was a tornado.”
And another islander, Lorna Dodd, captured some spectacular images of the funnel cloud.
A funnel cloud is made of condensed water droplets, associated with a rotating column of cold wind and extending from the base of a cloud but not reaching the ground or a water surface.
They form most frequently with supercell thunderstorms, and when it touches the, ground it becomes a tornado.
Dr Eddy Graham, meteorologist at the University of the Highlands and Isles, said the region experienced between two and three funnel clouds each year on average.
He added: “They are cold air columns and they have something to do with the cold weather we have been having.
“They look more threatening than they are – they may cause minor damage, trampolines being blown about that sort of thing. This one on Saturday was seen by a number of people.
“We get about two or three here each year – we may get more but they are unreported.”
The UK gets around 30 tornadoes a year – mainly in the autumn.
