Storm now passing divided opinion initially (7)
I believe the answer is:
tornado
'storm' is the definition.
(type of weather)
'now passing divided opinion initially' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'now' could be 'ad' (AD, Anno Domini, as opposed to BC, Before Christ) and 'ad' is located in the answer.
'divided' could be 'torn' (similar in meaning) and 'torn' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'o' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tornado that I've seen before include "threat" , "This is quite a blow" , "Violent rotating windstorm" , "RAF fighter; whirlwind" , "Violent wind storm" .)