If a tornado destroys 2 mobile homes should it be called a "gustnado"

[beaudodson]

?

How many offices are putting "gustnado" in their storm data logs? We had a tornado errr gustnado destroy 2 mobile homes (completely) and it was put down as a gustnado. It was at night and nobody saw the actual tornado.

Thoughts on this?

Debris was throw about four miles. Larger debris was thrown about or less than one quarter of a mile.

Photos here of the damage
http://www.usawx.com/thejourney294.htm



Beau

 

[Terry Tyler]

looks really intense as far as damage is concerned...do you have any radar images of the storm to dileniate whether it was a supercell or non-supercell tornado?

if no one saw it, then no one knows for sure i guess...i wasnt there and i dont know anything about the event, so this is just my personal opinion...

gustnadoes can get pretty strong...i believe its totally possible for a gustnado to do serious damage or even destroy manufactured homes...whether or not is was a gustnado...i dont know...like i said, i wasnt there, so i cant honestly say what it was...

reguardless of how much damage it did...if it was a gustnado, it would be considered gustnado...

im sure the more experienced chasers will provide insight...

 

[beaudodson]

We tracked it for two counties...there were tornado warnings on the storm a few counties before it hit. It was only a couple of miles from the radar at the time of the damage. Not sure radar would have grabbed it right there. We told spotters we had a possible tornado moving into the county from Ballard - radar showed indications of such. I told them the exact town to head towards and that is where they found the damage. They arrived a few minutes after the event. There was a mobile home in the road.

What throws me is that if it was 10 p.m. at night and nobody saw a gustnado then why not call it a tornado? I understand when people are out in the field and see these gustnadoes that they can tell what they are. At night though with no witnesses? Why not just call it a tornado? I guess I don't understand that.

 

[beaudodson]

Also at first they went with 75 mph winds...after some inquiries though they increased the wind to 90 or 95.


The next question I have is how does the SPC count this?

 

[Joel Wright]

If it's a rotating updraft attached to the base of any cloud, I'd call it a tornado. Period.

 

[John Robinson]

Since I wasn't there to look at the damage, I'll pass on any discussion as to what the phenomenon was.

But, on the question as to how gustnadoes are logged...Gustnadoes are counted as severe thunderstorms, not tornadoes. This is in NWS Directive 10-1605, which deals with the preparation of Storm Data.

 

[beaudodson]

Since I wasn't there to look at the damage, I'll pass on any discussion as to what the phenomenon was.

Are you suggesting that if you had been there that you could tell the difference between gustnado and tornado damage? If so what would the difference be?

 

[John Robinson]

"Looking at the damage", to me, doesn't mean just a physical inspection of what was there. The entire process would include the overall weather situation, what was on radar, etc. Since there were no witnesses, that certainly makes the decision tougher to come by. But, even if there were witnesses (other than experienced spotters/chasers), I doubt they could answer the critical question: Was the rotation pendant from a Cb (i.e., was there rotation at the cloud base?) Sometimes when you go out and look at damage, you don't have all the information you wish you had. To put it another way, you have to go with your best estimate.

 

[beaudodson]

The entire process would include the overall weather situation, what was on radar, etc. Since there were no witnesses, that certainly makes the decision tougher to come by. .

There was no warning issued at all. Sometimes I wonder if that comes into play on these things. There were warnings (tornado warnings to the counties southwest as the storm moved in). The tornado warnings were the changed to severe thunderstorm warnings as the storm moved into the county next to us. Then no warning for our county. Baron showed a possible meso and we tracked it on AE. IMO I felt like there could be a tornado with the storm and told the spotters just that. They then deployed to that area as the storm moved in. One of the spotters then drove into the damage path.

I am not sure how helpful radar was at the point of impact though...it is only a couple of miles from the radar dome - so it would have been in the cone of silence. Before it hit that area though we noted characteristics of a possible tornado.

Our local office does an EXTREMELY impressive job of storm surveys. I believe they go out and survey everything - each event. MUCH better than a lot of other offices. So no complaints on that subject. I am just curious about this single event and how other offices are handling these type of storms. I was surprised they kept it a gustnado.

I guess I am more curious as to how offices handle these situations and how the SPC puts it down in the log book. I see from an above post that it is counted as a severe thunderstorm.