(Possible) tornado today in Israel

[David Shohami]

(Possible) tornadoes today in Israel

Thunderstorms, some severe, developed today in eastern parts of Israel and brought torrential rains, flash floods, and hail. This is the third consecutive day of constant, round-the-clock thunderstorm activity in Israel, caused by a slow-moving upper-level trough coming down from relatively cold eastern Europe, and a surface Red Sea trough coming up from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Add the 26C waters of the Mediterranean Sea and there's your recipe for severe weather.

These pictures were taken today near the Dead Sea. The cloud involved was a severe thunderstorm with heavy rain and hail. I can't say for certain that this is a tornado, since I wasn't there. But it was rotating violently, probably had strong winds (the ground was muddy and wet, not dry sand), and I believe I see what appears to be a funnel slightly to the left of the vortex and perhaps even another funnel or suspicious lowering to the right.

Another picture:

After some contrast enhancement you can better see the possible lowering to the right and front of the vortex:

Can anyone tell for certain what type of vortex this is from the pictures alone? Can a gustnado or a land spout form such a tight vortex?

 

[Skip Talbot]

Wow, great catch. The vortex appears to break up the higher it is from the ground, which makes me think its a gustnado. The lowerings above it look like the edge of a gustfront given the shape and the fact that the precip core is immediately behind them. However, that is an extremely well defined gustnado and if there was a funnel or organized rotation above it, I would say its a full fledged tornado. Either way, its a great catch and would definitely make one of my chases.

 

[David Shohami]

By the way, as you can see, October is usually our busiest month supercell-wise...

2007: http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13920
2006: http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9999


And here are some more pictures from the past 3 days:

 

[Steve Miller TX]

In my opinion, I think this is a landspout or supercell tornado. I think the vortex is too tall with considerable extension to the cloud base. Plus, it is tight and well organized compared to gustnadoes I've seen. I took the liberty of further enhancing the photos with contrast and a little sharpening. The funnel-like feature is more apparent and coincides well with the ground circulation...which you said was rotating violently. Oh, very nice pics of the lightning too! You might want to consider some copyright watermark on such beautiful images.

 

[David Shohami]

Thank you both for your comments. Steve, I tend to agree with you. But it is hard to tell.

 

[David Shohami]

I've just received more pictures taken today of more funnel clouds from different storms! This time in northern Israel.

This was indeed a special day and it looks like conditions were right for tornado/landspout formation and it wasn't just one isolated event.

And from the third storm:

 

[Stephen Levine]

Wow, David, Thank you for those spectacular photos, both of lightning and apparent tornado. In fact, with the first pictures as well as Steve's enhanced shots, it appears that a secondary funnel is developed to the left of the main funnel.

Terrain-wise, it reminds me of what it would look like in SE California or far West Arizona if such an event were to occur.

Does this have precedent? Have there been documented tornadoes in Israel such as this one before? Any pictures? The first pictures you sent must be truly of historic proportions.

 

[David Shohami]

Does this have precedent? Have there been documented tornadoes in Israel such as this one before? Any pictures? The first pictures you sent must be truly of historic proportions.

Thank you for your comments.
Tornadoes in Israel are very rare but some have been documented in the past, and a few are thought to occur every year. Almost all are very weak, but every few years a stronger tornado occurs (still, my guess is only up to F1 or F2).

I think the first tornado that was well documented on photo and video was actually not a long time ago, in April 2006. I reported it and posted the pictures and video here:
http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8451
Some of the links to the pictures aren’t working so you can also see them here:
http://israelstorms.netfirms.com/05-06/storm0506.html

Yesterday’s tornado (if it really is a tornado) looks like a relatively strong one and in any case as far as I know it is only the second tornado ever photographed reaching the ground in Israel!

No doubt, the fact that digital cameras are becoming more and more common improves documentation of these rare events.

 

[AndyGabrielson]

nice pictures

Very nice pictures David. I'm curious what sort of things do you have for radars and warning systems so you know when to head out for something like that. I would guess if tornados don't happen that often it's sort of a "wow" factor for people.. or maybe not because they've never really seen one?

Im new by the way, just thought I would do something other than lurk...

 

[Mark Sefried]

Cool picture! Looks like a legit tornado to me with the condesation cloud not fully in contact with the ground. I would not say its a landspout as spouts usually develop under an almost completely flat base. No way its a gustnado as you can clearly see in the enhanced picture the funel just to the right above the circulation on the ground. Gustnadoes do not have funnels above them. Nice catch and in Israel of all places. Wow!

 

[Chris Kennedy]

great coverage, its nice to see storms in places other than the United States

 

[David Shohami]

Take a look at this, another beautiful tornado in Israel!! This time it is without a doubt a landspout.
The picture was taken in the northern Negev Desert on October 25th (a day before the tornado in my first post) and I received it only today.

Very nice pictures David. I'm curious what sort of things do you have for radars and warning systems so you know when to head out for something like that. I would guess if tornados don't happen that often it's sort of a "wow" factor for people.. or maybe not because they've never really seen one?

Im new by the way, just thought I would do something other than lurk...

We have almost no radars. As far as I know there are two precipitation radars in Israel, one operated by the Israel Meteorological Service and only last year made available to the public for free on the internet, but it is not very accurate due to the topography and location of the radar. The second radar is operated by the Water Service and it is better but unavailable to the public.
We have no warning systems, but when flash floods (the most common severe weather in Israel) are expected or occuring, warnings are given every hour in the news on the radio.
What we do have are internet forums much like this one with weather enthusiasts from all over Israel that are reporting and documenting severe weather, so we can use these forums if we want to go out and chase storms. This has grown considerably in the past four years. When I opened my web site 12 years ago it was the only site about Israeli weather, and to the best of my knowledge I was one of very few storm chasers in Israel.

 

[Oscar van der Velde]

Nice pictures! Looks like they must all have been of landspout-type, because there was only weak shear, but good low level buoyancy and superadiabatic lapse rates in the lower boundary layer.
See this sounding for Oct 26th: http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sounding?region=mideast&TYPE=GIF%3ASKEWT&YEAR=2008&MONTH=10&FROM=2612&TO=2612&STNM=40179
And for Oct 25th: http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sou...AR=2008&MONTH=10&FROM=2512&TO=2512&STNM=40179
Today (Tue 28th) will also be very favorable for spouts: http://weather.uwyo.edu/cgi-bin/sou...AR=2008&MONTH=10&FROM=2812&TO=2812&STNM=40179
Very moist, buoyant in low levels, low LFC height and weak winds to prevent from mechanical mixing. The classic setup.
See also Convective Weather Maps: http://www.lightningwizard.com/maps

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Are you limited by your national borders there? I know Israel is kind of a small country, only about 30 or 40 miles wide, which is about the size of a "gentleman's chase" zone here in Oklahoma -- so I am curious if you've had any problems with being unable to chase into Syria or Jordan.

Tim

 

[joel ewing]

Wow! Great, great shots!
On my honor.....I only saw the first two pics, and made up my mind immediately to reply, saying that this is definitely a tornado, not a gustnado. Just curious, what was the surface dewpoint in that area during that time??
Tornadoes in Israel. Now I HAVE seen everything. Quick, somebody set up a tour business.