35 years ago today a vigorous cold front crossed the country, bringing the biggest tornado outbreak ever recorded in the UK and in the whole of Europe. In the space of 5 hours and 15 minutes, 105 small tornadoes touched down across a large portion of the English Midlands. Most of these twisters were fairly weak and so damage was seldom significant.

There is also an interesting article here, which actually includes an image of where the tornadoes touched down: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1477-8696.1985.tb06883.x/abstract

You can certainly see why that cold front was so potent: sub-tropical air on one side of it and arctic air on the other! Can you imagine how much more severe that situation would've been in the Summer - a major temp. difference and if that sub-tropical feed was moisture-laden .. kaboom! lol