JOHN Westcott was on a tramp steamer in the South Atlantic when he had his first experience of tornadoes.

A series of six or seven waterspouts - tornadoes which suck up water - hit the area, turning everything "pretty black".

Although he wasn't frightened John was fascinated. Some time after, while on another ship off the West coast of America, he witnessed another weather-related incident which did shake him.

"I was alone on watch at night when I spotted a cloud ahead of us," he said. "It was a dirty great big cumulus cloud. I got more and more frightened. I was scared to death in case I got sucked up by it."

After coming out of the navy John, of Bolton Road, Chorley, worked at British Nuclear Fuels. It wasn't until four years ago after he had retired that he rekindled his interest in all things meteorological, answering an advertisement for people to observe thunder storms. Using a thermometer and a wind velocity gauge John keeps a record of weather activity and sends monthly reports to TORRO on thunder storms, flooding and rainfall.

"I've always been interested in meteorology and thunder storms. You have to know what's going to happen with the weather when you are sailing," said John. Tornadoes are measured on a scale of one to ten and John said the one which struck last month probably registered two.

The whirlwind struck at 11am on November 27, and though it only passed through for a matter of ten seconds it left a trail of destruction which took residents days to clear up, lifting rooves from two houses, tearing slates from the rooves of others, and leaving bricks, glass and rubble in gardens.

One Milton Close resident, Marion Brown, 52, watched as the tornado descended on her street, knocking her husband John, 53, to the floor.

"I saw everything swirling across the road," she said. "I was shocked. If I hadn't looked up at that second I would have missed it."

The couple now face a £25,000 bill to replace the roof on their bungalow.

"The tornado went across a couple of motorways and a railway embankment so it encountered all kinds of obstacles," said John. "I would like to know where it started, which way it went and how wide it was.

"The clouds were fascinating on the Sunday after. I'm going to try and follow it up because we don't often get them here."