Moment a mini TORNADO sweeps through Boomtown Festival sending tents, gazebos and camping chairs flying ’60ft’ into the air
- Emma Baskeyfield, 21, was at the annual festival in Winchester, Hampshire
- The student, from Manchester, captured the winds descending on the campsite
- After a week of hot weather, the huge storm hit the festival on Sunday
- She posted her dramatic video to TikTok, while others also shared footage online
A festival-goer has captured the dramatic moment a mini tornado hit a festival, with the twirling winds wreaking havoc across the campsite after a week of scorching temperatures.
Emma Baskeyfield, 21, was at the annual Boomtown festival in Winchester, Hampshire, with friends over the weekend when the terrifying winds descended on the campsite, reportedly lifting camping chairs 60ft into the air.
After a week of hot weather, the huge storm woke up the student, from Manchester, on her last day at the festival, which ended last Sunday and is held on the Matterley Estate in South Downs National Park.
Emma captured the mini tornado as it took over the field, blowing away and ripping up festival goers’ tents, throwing air mattresses into the air and the moment one tent even hit an electricity pole.
A festival-goer has captured the dramatic moment a mini tornado hit a festival, with the strong winds wreaking havoc across the campsite after a week of scorching temperatures
Among others who did similarly, the 21-year-old recorded the mini tornado as it took over the field
Emma Baskeyfield (left), 21, was at the annual Boomtown festival in Winchester, Hampshire, with friends over the weekend when the terrifying winds descended on the campsite
After a week of hot weather, the huge storm woke up the student, from Manchester, on her last day at the festival, which concluded on Sunday and is held on the Matterley Estate in South Downs National Park
Posting her video on TikTok, Ms Baskeyfield shows the strong winds also sweeping up gazebos and metal fences, carrying rubbish, and destroying power lines.
Ms Baskeyfield commented on the shocking event: ‘It came out of nowhere, it was so strange. There had been no wind all week and it was so warm and then all of a sudden this tornado happened.’
More videos of the surprising incident have been shared widely online, showing the destruction caused by the mini tornado, including objects that appeared to get stuck in trees, as onlookers watch in disbelief.
23-year-old student Samuel James, from Surrey, told The Telegraph about what he witnessed: ‘It came through the bottom of the valley, picked up people’s tents and completely threw them out of the site.’
He added: ‘Gazebos and tents flew into the air as well. It lasted for about 30 seconds to a minute.
‘Luckily we weren’t in the path of it. You could see it twisting dust-up about 60 feet into the air and it looked like a twister.’
Posting her video on TikTok, Ms Baskeyfield shows the strong winds also sweeping up gazebos and metal fences, carrying rubbish, and destroying power lines
The mini tornado was seen blowing away and ripping up festival attendees’ tents, with camping chairs reportedly being lifted 60ft into the air
After examining the footage, the Met Office confirmed the strange weather event could in fact have been a tornado
After watching the footage, the Met Office confirmed the strange weather event could in fact have been a tornado.
A spokesperson told MailOnline the tornado was ‘indirectly linked to the heat’. This is because it would not have been able to happen without the thunderstorms that took place after the most recent heatwave.
They added: ‘Without knowing the exact time that footage was taken, it’s hard to confirm what the specific weather set-up was.
‘There were showers in that region around 5pm on Sunday, and the environment of that would have supported some short-lived tornado activity.
‘If it wasn’t around then, there’s a chance it could be a ‘dust devil’ – which is effectively some swirling air that can occur when the ground is dry and high temperatures produce strong updrafts.’
Tornadoes are vertical funnels of rapidly spinning air, with wind speeds that can reach 250 miles an hour.
The weather events are formed when warm, humid air hits cold, dry air. The denser cold air is pushed over the warm air, which usually results in thunderstorms.
The warm air rises through the colder air, leading to an updraft that will then start to rotate if winds change abruptly in speed or direction.
Around 30 thunderstorms typically hit the UK every year.
A spokesperson for Boomtown told MailOnline they were aware of the event and added that no injuries had been reported.
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