Thursday, May 15, 2008

Cold Air Funnel

We had a Cold Air Funnel over Jackson County yesterday. They look a little scary, but Cold Air Funnels are pretty harmless. To read more about them, click here. You can also read a case study about them by clicking here. Here are the pictures that were sent to me that were taken by State Police Trooper David Dixon:

Have a good day.
Ryan

8 comments:

Jason H said...

Yes, your boy Chris Castleman was calling it a roll cloud. Not even close. LOL :-D

Ryan said...

Before the pictures came in, (I am told) that the NWS thought it was a roll cloud based on the discription.

It is clearly a cold air funnel.

Ryan said...

Well... Actually the NWS issued a statement yesterday evening... Who knows.

Public Information Statement
000
NOUS44 KLZK 142319
PNSLZK
ARZ022>024-031>033-038-039-042>046-054>057-150200-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LITTLE ROCK AR
615 PM CDT WED MAY 14 2008

...COLD AIR FUNNEL REPORTED IN JACKSON COUNTY..

THE ARKANSAS STATE POLICE REPORTED A COLD AIR FUNNEL SHORTLY AFTER 6
PM THIS EVENING IN JACKSON COUNTY...ABOUT 5 MILES WEST OF TUCKERMAN.
THIS COLD AIR FUNNEL WAS CONFIRMED BY A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
STORM SPOTTER.

COLD AIR FUNNELS ARE NOT ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS BUT
RATHER WITH COLD AIR ALOFT...USUALLY IN THE WAKE OF A COLD FRONT
THAT COMBINES WITH MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY. THE MIXING OF COLD AIR
WITH OTHER AIR FLOWING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION CAN PRODUCE A
VISIBLE COLD AIR FUNNEL IF MOISTURE IS SUFFICIENT.

WHILE THEY MAY LOOK THREATENING...COLD AIR FUNNELS RARELY REACH THE
GROUND AND ARE USUALLY VERY SHORT LIVED.

Jason H said...

I could clearly see the funnel, but I see nothing in the pics that looks like a roll cloud. I don't see how the N.W.S would get those two mixed up ?...unless it was just by ear, and not looking at the pictures.

Anonymous said...

I have never heard of anything like this. I was pretty fascinated by the pictures!! We had an extremely line roll across Greene County yesterday evening around 4:30pm. You could look it it from the north side of Greene County and see the end of the cloud to the south. It was really spooky looking. It looked like these pictures only alot darker and no funnels!! It was sort of pretty.

Anonymous said...

So, if a cold air funnel is confirmed by a national weather storm spotter, is that the person who gives the "order" to set off the tornado sirens??? or would that be Jackson County's finest Office of Emergency Management Coordinator??????

Tornado sirens went off in Newport and I guess the rest of Jackson County a little after 6 pm.

So...... this just proves once again that during severe weather that we need to watch the storm team at Kait 8 for the best and most accurate weather updates.

Anonymous said...

I just found out that not all of the tornado sirens in Jackson County went off that day, the ones in TUCKERMAN, did not go off because they were malfunctioning - imagine that. So, the Volunteer Firemen and the police officers were racing through town warning everyone that there was a tornado. I know this because my brother is a volunteer fireman and he almost wrecked as he was racing through town. Still can't find out who gives the ORDER to set off the sirens, but I can only imagine (especially in Jackson County) who gives the order.

Thanks for keeping us safe during the REAL storms.

Anonymous said...

There are many things that I'm sure many of us are unaware of, and untrained on, and this is probably one of them. So, I read your links, but still have questions. Do cold air funnels have circulation like tornadoes? Can they just pop out anytime there's a cold front? As I topped the viaduct in Diaz headed north, I saw what appeared to be a funnel cloud, which was a different one from the one you have pictures on by the way. The original report came off of a county road, so we apparently had a number of these things in Jackson County. Can they touch the ground? Also, the funnel was reported to have touched the ground in a couple of places by local storm spotters with the State Police and Sheriff's Department. Is this normal?