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The reason behind the ‘mini Manc tornado’ that blew through Ancoats this month

Pretty wild.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 13th May 2025

If you saw footage of a ‘mini tornado’ ripping through Manchester online this past weekend, no, your eyes weren’t deceiving you: it did happen and, turns out, it’s a pretty strange and rare phenomenon – at least in this part of the world.

They say 0161 has everything but a beach, and now we seemingly have little twisters of our own, they might just have a point.

In all seriousness, footage went viral on social media, being met with equal surprise and alarm as most were understandably confused at how this could even happen in the UK, given our climate isn’t typically used to these kinds of weather events.

For those of you who haven’t seen it already, here’s what it looked like…

We’ll admit that when first heard a so-called tornado had been spotted in Manchester, we pictured a little spiral of leaves and crisps packets in a supermarket car park, but as you can see, it really was much more significant than that.

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Reported as having towered as high as 30 metres along Great Ancoats Street, various people saw the startling city centre sight and quickly began querying what the hell they were seeing online.

Despite many dubbing it a tornado, we can confirm it was something slightly different.

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What caused the ‘Manchester tornado’?

What you’re looking at is what is colloquially known as a ‘dust devil’; put simply, these are small, rotating columns of air that pick up dust and debris from the ground and obviously resemble a tornado at times, especially when they manage to become as wide and tall as this one did.

As explained by the Met Office, “A dust devil forms due to irregularities caused by temperature contrasts on different surfaces, which then causes rotation of the air and, when there’s dust and debris, you can get these columns of air.”

Here’s another angle:

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We don’t need to tell you that it’s been pretty warm of late (bloody gorgeous, in fact) and, as a result, the chances of creating a proper dust devil are much greater than usual.

The Met Office went on to add: “Unlike tornadoes, dust devils grow upwards from the ground, rather than down from clouds. In the stronger dust devils, a cumulus cloud can be seen at the top of the rising column of warm air.

“They only last a few minutes because cool air is sucked into the base of the rising vortex, cooling the ground and cutting off its heat supply.”

It’s not the only strange meteorological event seen around Greater Manchester recently, either. From the likes of ‘supercell thunderstorm’ and the eerily silent ‘heat lightning’ in late 2023, to the UFO-like swirl seen across various parts of the globe earlier this year.

Met Office explain ‘likely’ reason for ‘strange spiral’ seen in the sky over Greater Manchester
This was pretty mad in the moment.

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Featured Images — Supplied

News

Coronation Street and Emmerdale set for special crossover episode

Danny Jones Danny Jones

Two of Britain’s most legendary TV shows are set to collide as Coronation Street and Emmerdale prepare for an unforgettable crossover.

It’s the sort of thing we’ve imagined plenty of times before, but if we’re being honest, we never actually thought it would come to fruition.

For the first time ever, the iconic Northern soaps will be teaming up to release a special crossover episode early next year.

‘Coronationdale’? ‘Emmerdale Street’? All we know is we’re excited.

Announced on Tuesday, 13 May, ITV confirmed that work on the first-ever Coronation Street and Emmerdale collaboration is now underway.

The flagship serial franchises both have huge nationwide followings in their own right, attracting more than 8 million viewers every week.

Moreover, with both Manc’s much-loved Corrie and its Yorkshire counterpart having faced financial struggles in recent months, this announcement couldn’t have come at a better time.

Writing in an official joint press release, the two shows revealed they will “join forces in an unprecedented, one-off special episode to launch the broadcaster’s new power hour of soap, which begins on ITV1 and STV in January 2026.”

The ‘power hour’ is part of the channel’s plans to readjust its approach to its regular programming laid out earlier this year, with this serving as an eye-catching way to promote the new schedule.

Put it this way, provided they keep the crossovers up North and avoid you know where, this is the kind of thing we can get behind…

The statement goes on to read: “The distinctive worlds of Emmerdale and Coronation Street will merge for one night only in a ‘mash-up’ of our two favourite communities.”

ITV believe they have come up with an “ingenious way of linking the two universes” before having them return to Greater Manchester and the Dales, respectively.

The episode will be a self-contained one-off special, but one that sees them canonically grounded in the same entertainment world forever and, you never know, if the idea is a hit then it could be the first of many to come.

As if that wasn’t enough, to make the prospect even more interesting, the producers are inviting members of the audience to choose which two characters they would like to meet and interact with in the scene – keep your eyes peeled on their social media for more information.

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Coming in January 2026 (specific release date yet to be confirmed), this is not one you want to miss.

We’re also glad to see the pair of long-standing soaps and institutions of British telly have got off to a strong start this year, raking in 124 million streams on ITVX with each episode now available on the streaming platform ahead of each night’s episode.

You can expect a big viewer spike when this one goes out, that’s for sure.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — ITV (press shot)/The Manc Group

News

Chester Zoo has been given £4m lottery funding to ‘transform’ the local environment

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Chester Zoo nature

Chester Zoo has been awarded a £4 million grant of lottery funding to help ‘transform’ the local environment.

Merely months after being named the UK’s best zoo for the second year running, thanks to receiving more than 11,000 ‘excellent’ reviews from TripAdvisor, Chester Zoo has now been awarded a whopping £4 million – £4,073,372 in total – by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support its Networks for Nature initiative.

The Networks for Nature initiative is described as being an ‘ambitious project’ to restore wildlife habitats across the Cheshire and wider North West region.

The funds will be used to either create or restore 20 ponds, nearly 3,000 metres of hedgerow, and more than 100 hectares of habitat.

Chester Zoo helping the Cheshire countryside to flourish
Chester Zoo has been given £4m lottery funding to ‘transform’ the local environment / Credit: Chester Zoo

4,500 students will also be able to take part in year-long school projects to improve their school grounds for wildlife and people through the grants – which have been made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players – while 90 young people will have the chance to be trained in an environmental leadership course.

On top of this, 14 new jobs will also be funded through the money, 18 community groups will be worked closely with to improve their outdoor spaces for natural heritage, and the zoo’s network of trained ‘Wildlife Champions’ will continue to be supported.

Hannah Brooks, who is the Senior Community Participation & Engagement Manager at Chester Zoo, said The National Lottery Heritage Fund grant was a ‘massive boost’ for the zoo’s community groups.

Chester Zoo helping the Cheshire countryside to flourish
The funds’ll go towards an ‘ambitious project’ to restore wildlife habitats across the North West / Credit: Chester Zoo

“As a charity, we’re so grateful that this funding has come through,” she commented.

“This is an exciting moment for the project, there has been a lot of work behind-the-scenes to bring people together and find out what these community groups need to take action to improve spaces for wildlife and people, and now, we will be able to support people to make real change across a vast landscape.

“This could really transform things for the environment in Cheshire and for the people who live here.

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“Individual action can be difficult, but collectively we can inspire each other and provide a network that will keep having impact long into the future.”

Featured Image – Chester Zoo

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