JANESVILLE — Mysterious funnel clouds were spotted from Footville to Janesville Tuesday, prompting sirens to be sounded in both communities out of caution in case they hit the ground and damage were to have occurred.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Gehring, who is based in Sullivan, said there were no confirmed reports of tornadoes hitting the ground. The Rock County 911 Communications Center could not confirm any touchdowns either.
“Since they were coming from a cumulus cloud, it would have been a landspout tornado and we would have called it a tornado,” Gehring said.
Neither the National Weather Service nor the communications center reported damage either.
The Footville Fire Department spotted a funnel cloud shortly after 1 p.m., according to police scanner traffic, prompting authorities to be on alert. Spotters found a “funnel cloud in the northwest corner of the county,” according to that scanner traffic. Then after 1:43 p.m. an officer reported spotting a funnel cloud on the east side of Janesville near Highway 14. Shortly after at about 1:48 p.m., there was a report of a funnel cloud or a tornado–like object near Highway A over scanner traffic. At approximately 2:15 p.m., “There’s a cloud questionable over Janesville” could be heard over scanner traffic.
As there were reports of the funnel clouds and photos started pouring in on social media, the service went to check. There were already forecasters checking on storm damage near the Rock/Walworth county line, Gehring said, so they took the short drive to Janesville and witnessed the funnel clouds up close.
Gehring could not confirm how many funnel clouds there were, other than “there were many of them.”
“Some got close to the ground,” Gehring said.
No warnings were issued because none of the clouds were expected to hit the ground, and if they did they were expected to be weak and dissipate quickly.
“Multiple citizens are reporting seeing rotation in the sky (in Janesville) so that’s why we sounded the siren,” a representative at the Rock County 911 Communications Center said just before 2 p.m.
Gehring said there was “plenty of” instability in the atmosphere for the ingredients for a tornado. There was high humidity. There was a low-level front that moved through Tuesday afternoon with the cumulus clouds.
“You don’t even have to have storms for these funnel clouds to form,” Gehring said.
Radar picked up weakening showers and storms to the southwest of Janesville, moving to the southeastern edge of the county before leaving the state.
Gehring said funnel clouds that occur without storms are common, “but not to any one area.”
“This seems to happen every summer, but there were so many of them. With that converging air and the rising air, you can get a spinning updraft and sometimes you get this,” Gehring said, adding, “They may occur anywhere in southern Wisconsin. This has been happening ever since people have found out what funnel clouds were, but they catch a lot of attention. But that’s where we come in. We’re not going to issue a tornado warning unless one hits the ground and stays on the ground.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0