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A mysterious sound filled the air in Manchester last night despite high winds drowning out the noise of the busy city centre.

Some residents living in trendy Deansgate and shoppers took to Twitter in their droves to describe an "ominous howl".

The eerie noise kept many city-dwellers awake as winds of up to 70 mph battered the region, with many tall buildings being evacuated for safety reasons.

But what is the strange sound that sounds like an alien mothership descending on Manchester?

In fact, the noise has caused ringing in the ears of annoyed residents who have given a name to their pain: the Beetham Tower Howl.

The loud 250hz frequency can be heard all the way around the two square mile city centre and in suburban areas like Chorlton and Miles Platting.

In 2012, red-faced architect Ian Simpson apologised to Manchester for the din caused by his design flaw in the 47-story skyscraper.

The building is the tallest residential block in Europe and also houses the Hilton Manchester hotel on Deansgate, and stands at 551ft.

Prof. Trevor Cox from the University of Salford, who teaches acoustic and audio engineering, explained in his blog how the notorious howl was caused.

He said: "The problem is caused by the glass and metal sculpture at the top of the building.

"When the wind rushes past the edge of the glass panes turbulence is created.

"This is very similar to how turbulence generates sound within a recorder."

Prof. Cox added: "Inside the recorder there is an edge called the fipple, which breaks up the air flow when a musician blows into the mouthpiece.

"For the Beetham Tower, I suspect it is the resonance of the air between the deep glass panes which allows the hum to achieve such loud decibel values."

One woman living in close proximity likened the Beetham Tower Howl to "having a 550ft child standing outside your front door whining. But louder".

Another man said the hum was like the sound of an army of drunk "vuvuzela enthisiasts", the much-hated trumpet that became infamous in the 2010 World Cup.

Hurricane force winds brought devastation to the west coast on Wednesday and floods have paralysed much of the south-west.

More bad weather is expected over the weekend.

The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for severe rain, wind and snow bringing more misery to flood-hit southern England and Wales, which bore the brunt of Storm Tini yesterday.