What on earth sort of cloud was this!

[FlyingPete]

I know I am way off topic around here, but this thing formed in the sky quite quickly near our house, by the time I grabbed the camera it has started to break up.

Never seen anything like it around here!
http://www.lowden.orcon.net.nz/WierdCloud.jpg

What do you all think? I am having some ideas, but we don't get those around here!

[Turbowolf]

Yeap ...

Looks just like a typical baby tornado forming. Never used to have them in the Pacific Northwest either, but over the last few years there has seemed to be an increase in the quantity of small F1 Tornados around western Washington.

[jaypie77]

Wow, I bet you could get that into the local papers no-problem. Pretty cool catch.

[robertwgross]

If you lived in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, or Iowa, you would recognize that as a tornado "funnel cloud."

---Bob Gross---

[Moppie]

Call the Herald!
Send them the photo, if its a slow news day it's exactly the sort of thing they would run on the back page.

For those familiar with Tornados, here in NZ we are not.
There might be one a year touchs down briefly, and only one every 3-4 years that does any damage, thats in the whole country.

FlyingPete Im impressed you got a photo of it, Iv seen one form over Waiheke Island, about 15 years ago, quite a sight, and something I will always remember.

[FlyingPete]

Call the Herald!
Send them the photo, if its a slow news day it's exactly the sort of thing they would run on the back page.


Done, done and done! Haven't heard anything from them yet, hopefully it is a slow day in the news!

[Cadwell]

Little whirlwinds like that are more common than you might think. We even get them over here in Britain. They rarely amount to much though.

Very nice capture.

[iwatkins]

Yep, it's a funnel cloud, nice capture. (not a tornado until it touches down).

The UK actually gets more tornados per unit area than the USA, but most of ours are weedy little things that lift a few roof tiles. :)

Cheers

Ian

[Longwatcher]

I used to play in those things as a kid (actually the desert dust devil variety) Until I got older and realised how dangerous that actually was. I used to think it was fun to be almost picked up off the ground, watch the trashcans go about 50 feet into the air and then suddenly drop. It was fun back then. They were frequent, but not powerful. Since they built a lot more houses they are also not as common any more in the areas I used to live. On the right days we used to get one or two a day during the summer.

[dewmuw]

I've seen a few of those in the UK too, only ever in the summer. Often get them over water as 'water spouts'.

[Danny Boy]

Yup.... funnel cloud. I've seen three actual tornado's, two around Chicago that wiped out a town called Plainfield and one out in Kansas after the sky turned green. Eeerie.

Dan

[Penguin_101_1]

If you lived in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, or Iowa, you would recognize that as a tornado "funnel cloud."

---Bob Gross---
Yep, tornado season is coming! :(

[thomascanty]

If you lived in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, or Iowa, you would recognize that as a tornado "funnel cloud."

Nebraska too. I saw my share of those things growing up in Omaha.

[Bodryn]

Yep, that's a funnel cloud. They become tornadoes when they touch the ground. I would never have guessed they'd happen in New Zealand! I've been fortunate enough to catch several of these on a camcorder in NW Minnesota and eastern ND. I had a portable tape copying system in my car so I would bring copies to the local TV stations and thus share the videos with the general public while they were still newsworthy. I think "tornado alley" is moving north. My dad had one barn destroyed by one and my uncle had two farmsteads largely destroyed by them during his lifetime.