Lowerings in Mass

[Scott Nelson]

[/ATTACH]

I was returning to my MASS home last week around 6:30pm and although I had my eye on the radar all day, I wasn't concerned about severe weather for my community. That said, the sky was a wee bit angry and showers and some thunder were in the area. Noticing what looked to be a small Wall Cloud over a tree line I redirected myself from my home to a local overlook so I could get a better look at what I "thought" I was seeing. (Yeah-- I know.) The area with this "possible" wall cloud was now totally obscured by the New England hills but I snapped these two pictures with my blackberry anyway. These are only a few of the numeorous lowerings I saw that evening but with the lack of a good camera I spent most of my time just watching these drop and rise back into the low topped weather passing by.

So I apologize for these grainy small photos that I'm asking you to digest (enlarging them only made them more pixalated) but my question__ Can thunderstorms drop numerous "funnels" like this without a threat of signifigant rotation in the storm itself? I've NEVER seen a MA sky do this. Maybe the storm did go severe for a few minutes but I'm not sure how to check the NOAA's radar records on this 4/28 event.

Thanks.

 

[rdale]

Those look like SLC's.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/?n=scary-clouds

Any storm can have turbulent clouds underneath, so plenty of things resemble funnels.

 

[Billy Griffin]

Those cloud features are VERY COMMON here in Washington state! Often times, we'll have a heavy precip core pass over that will produce graupel or heavy snow bursts in or near the foothills, and another area of convection passing over will then follow by producing rapidly rising condensation 'scud' that will play tricks on even the most experienced chaser/spotter.

I think the biggest thing emphasized is the word, "sustained." Observing these cloud features for a while, before making a quick call, can save you some embarassment. Believe me, I've learned from experience up here!

 

[Scott Nelson]

Billy... Thanks for your input on my question. Believe you're right about rising condensation. Reread my thread starter though and although I'm interested in finding out if this weather system went severe on the date in question, at no point did I call these actual tornadoes. Just a "what are these" question. Thus no " quick call saving myself embarrassment" here.

Rdale... great NOAA page link. The SLC web page is awesome. John Romadka's photo is very similar to what I was seeing that day.