The twister - a thick tunnel of cloud caused by spiralling wind - was seen over Poundstock near Bude in Cornwall on 6th June 2009.
The photograph was taken by a startled Derrick Prescott, 58, as he flew his model plane in Poundstock, near Bude.
Mr Prescott saw the funnel cloud at about 3.30pm on Saturday. Mr Prescott said he had been out flying his model aeroplane for a few hours on Saturday and the weather changed dramatically through the afternoon, with cloud and rain one minute and sunshine the next.
He just had time to grab his camera to get a shot.
He said: "A tornado is not something you normally see here. Its spout formed and started spiralling down towards us. It was exciting."
It did not reach the ground before it broke up and there were no reports that it had caused any damage.
The tornado happened during the wild weekend weather which saw storms storms lash from the Westcountry across South Wales, Wiltshire, to East Sussex.
In Exeter, almost double the monthly rainfall fell in just 13 hours.
The storms left a trail of flooded properties and lightning-struck properties in their wake and one family had to be winched to safety after becoming trapped by rough seas on the South Devon coast.
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