Not thinking it was a tornado... despite what the newspaper reported

I was watching a tornado video posted online by Justin, and I saw something in it that made me pause and reflect a little more about the "tornado" capture in Valdosta on Saturday, February 28th. Upon closer inspection of the camera phone shots captured by Eric Bennett, I think I have confirmed by suspicion. The spotter who reported a funnel paid attention during training.








Eric's Valdosta "tornado" is on the left, and Justin's tornado is on the right. I have had lots of discussions with people about the alleged "tornado" since I posted those shots the other day. First, from a still shot, you cannot be certain that it is a rotating column of air. In the shot, you cannot be certain that it is in contact with the ground. You can see woven in with the shot, near the base of the cloud, scud through the transparent "tornado". The shape more closely resembles a rain foot, especially when you consider these snapshots of the respective storms; however, on the left side of the shaft of Eric's shot, I am pretty sure that is a funnel cloud, which was reported. Now, in a still captured from Justin's posted video of "F5 Tornado in Elie, MB Devastates Part of Town & F3 tornado", you see a dark column just to the left of the rain shaft, which is the tornado. When considering the rain shaft appearance over tornado appearance, combined with the lack of damage on the ground, I definitely suspect rain rather than tornado. It's not uncommon to mistake something else as a tornado... here is a site dedicated to look-a-likes: Link. Now, I was not there, but I would guess that there was no tornado at mile marker 23 on I-75 in Valdosta, on Saturday, February 28, 2009.

I maintain that there was a funnel.

Have a great day,
~Dewdrop

A little too close to home!!!!

POST IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!!!

TORNADO REPORTS
0545Z 6 S CAIRO GRADY COUNTY GA
CONFIRMED TORNADO WITH MANY TREES DOWN 6 MILES TO THE SOUTH OF CAIRO. SEMI-TRAILER TRUCK OVERTURNED. (TAE)

0605Z 1 S THOMASVILLE THOMAS COUNTY GA
WDIESPREAD TREES AND POWER LINES FELLED BY CONFIRMED TORNADO AT THE INTERSTION OF 319 AND PINE TREE ROAD. (TAE)

0620Z BOSTON THOMAS COUNTY GA
WIDESPREAD TREES DOWN THAT WERE TWISTED AND SNAPPED OFF. WIDESPREAD POWERLINES DOWN AND MANY ROADS IMPASSIBLE. (TAE)

0715Z VALDOSTA LOWNDES COUNTY GA
TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON VALDELL ROAD OFF OF HWY 41 IN VALDOSTA. (TAE)

Well, it appears that the tornadic activity last night (starting just prior to 1AM and lasting through... what time did I post that???) was limited to an area of within 70 miles or so of my house. There was a report of an actual touchdown, just about 3 1 miles from my house, which was the last one that occurred last night. I can't tell you what a horrible sound it is to have the EAS tone sound at 1AM and announce a tornado heading dead at you. I have my SAME codes set for surrounding counties so I have a heads up. The scary part is that the first one was within 6 miles of my gtb's children. What a night!12:39AM(radio woke me, and AL Mike called within seconds to make sure I was aware):12:44AM:12:50AM:12:55AM:1:01AM:1:07AM:After the 1:07AM capture, I was watching it with a lot of analysis... not really paying attention to capturing, more in a protect life and property mode... it looks like it had lost its energy, but just as it approached my county (very close to me...) it started to rotate again, and it had a strong signature on the relative velocity. Just as I had made the decision to take cover, the weather radio alerted me that the Tallahassee Weather Service office agreed and were issuing a tornado warning for my area. Grabbed Mini-Dew, the dog and a mattress and we took cover, all the while getting texted updates from Mike and Rick, who were vigilantly watching on my behalf. Incidentally, it was our first time having to do that, and well, happy birthday Mini-Dew... as she shivered in my arms behind the mattress. While, we were under the mattress during our tornado warning, the SPC upgraded our Severe Thunderstorm Watch to a Tornado Watch... I had to chuckle... just prior to the 4th and final tornado, they saw fit to escalate the watch...

2:08AM (after it had passed) I don't have captured from when it touched down 3 miles to my south. I was a little busy:That's my report! Again, a HUGE THANK YOU to Alabama Mike and Rick for having our backs! The Southern Weather Brigade is a great team!

WHEW... aside from that, and now that my pulse is finally returning to normal... SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Please visit Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy, the team for SKY WATCH FRIDAY (click the word to link and participate!) Thanks to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us! In honor of last night's (well, this morning's) long tracking tornadic supercell. I thought I'd share a pic with you today of one of my favorite supercells, which produced my first captured funnel clouds (3 of them!) In this particular supercell, you see the mesocyclonic striation bands on the anvil which are an indication of strong rotation. You see the wall cloud on the right dissipating and feeding into the inflow of the newly forming wall cloud on the left. It was in the wall cloud on the left where 3 needle funnel clouds descended, while we were watching. It was amazing, and it was such a scenic opportunity. I can't wait to get back out there. This was somewhere in SD on June 6, 2007.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop