Watch the moment a tornado-type funnel cloud began to form over Cliffe in Medway
10:40, 16 August 2020
updated: 11:37, 16 August 2020
This is the moment a dog walker captured a tornado-type funnel cloud forming above a river in Kent.
John Wassell was walking in the fields in Cliffe, near Hoo Peninsula, when he saw it.
A forming tornado was caught on camera last night. Video: John Wassell
The Medway man explained he was out at about 4.30pm yesterday and noticed the formation over the Thames.
He said: "It's a bit worrying to think we could get a big tornado in little Cliffe.
"I was walking the dogs and think it was over the river and I saw it come down about half way to ground from the clouds above, which is I started filming.
"I wasn't worried as it was quite far off, but I could see it rotating slowly.
"I've lived here more than 50 years and never seen anything like it, although I have been told one hit here in the 90s."
Funnel clouds are usually formed when condensed water droplets in clouds meet with a rotating column of wind and extend from the base of the main cloud.
They do not reach the ground or sea but if they did this is what forms a tornado.
Most frequently they are visible as a cone-shape or needle and are most often associated with supercell thunderstorms.
