Customize Your Weather. Privacy Policy. Tropical Funnels Weather. Current Hazards. Local National. Rivers and Lakes. Climate and Past Weather. September 28th Tropical Funnels in the Texas Panhandle Tropical funnels were spotted near several communites on the evening of the 28th.
These funnel clouds were seen near Hereford, Clarendon, and Amarillo for brief periods. Tropical funnels and the similar cold air funnel are not as well understood as funnel clouds that form in supercells and produce classic tornadoes. Tropical funnels form in tropical environments, which Texas was experiencing due to moisture from Hurricane Miriam off the west coast of Mexico on the 28th. Meteorologists have an idea of how these tropical funnel clouds form, but the exact process much like classic tornadoes is not completely understood.
A rare type of funnel cloud known in the weather community as a horseshoe vortex, is a short-lived standalone funnel cloud that often looks like a moustache or upside-down U. Cumulonimbus murus praecipitatio tuba Cb mur pra tub. Cumulonimbus tuba Cb tub. Tuba Cloud Types. When they do reach the ground they become a tornado. A funnel cloud is a cone-shaped cloud which extends from the base of a cloud towards the ground without actually reaching the surface.
In the UK they often look like thin dangling bits of rope, hanging from the cloud above. But in hotspots such as tornado alley in the USA, funnel clouds can sometimes be thicker and much more intense. However, when there is a change of wind speed or direction as the air rises wind shear , this updraft begins to rotate. This rotating updraft is called a mesocyclone. As this mesocyclone, or rotating air, moves closer to the surface of the earth, this may cause a funnel cloud to form.
If this rotating updraft touches the surface of the earth land , a tornado is formed. Alternatively, if the updraft touches the surface of the ocean or a waterbody, it is considered a waterspout. Similar to the formation of a tornado or waterspout , a rotating column of air draws in water droplets — making a region of intense low-pressure visible. This rotating column of air can be found at the base of cumulonimbus clouds, where the updraft is located. Reports from the area are the funnel cloud has repeatedly dissipated and reformed, with no confirmed touchdown.
As of PM, this funnel cloud has dissipated. There is some disagreement over the definition of a funnel cloud and a condensation funnel. According to the Glossary of Meteorology , a funnel cloud is any rotating cloud pendant from a cumulus or cumulonimbus, and thus most tornadoes are included under this definition.
Note: The term condensation funnel may refer to either a tornadic cloud or a funnel cloud aloft, but the term funnel cloud exclusively refers to a rotating condensation funnel not reaching the surface. If strong cyclonic winds are occurring at the surface and are connected to a cloud base, regardless of condensation, then the feature is a tornado. Cold-air funnel clouds, and its associated vortex of wind, are generally much weaker than the vortex produced by supercells.
Unlike the related phenomenon associated with severe thunderstorms, cold-air funnels are generally associated with partly cloudy skies in association with atmospheric boundaries such as sea breezes or outflow boundaries.
Sea breeze convergence is common along the Western coasts of both islands, particularly during days where overall easterly winds are light to non-existent.
Funnel formation in this instance is usually due to cooler air aloft higher in the atmosphere over warmer air at the surface. The funnels develop where atmospheric instability and moisture are sufficient to support towering cumulus clouds but typically limited to no or little precipitation.
Cold-air funnels, although weak, may persist for several minutes, and areas of intermittently forming these types of clouds for tens of minutes.
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