Wall clouds spotted over Michiana this past weekend
It was an active weather weekend across Michiana, filled with heavy rain, severe thunderstorms, microbursts, and even tornado warnings.
Storm Damage [ From Saturday Evening]
— Tom Coomes (@TomCoomes) June 27, 2021
Sister Lakes / Magician Lake in N. Cass Co #miwx @NWSIWX
?Anthony Lozada pic.twitter.com/0mQqcnd9mH
The National Weather Service surveyed the damage from Saturday's storms, and determined that no tornadoes ever touched the ground.
However, many across Michiana spotted the precursor to a tornado, known as a "wall cloud."
WALL CLOUD ⛈
— Tom Coomes (@TomCoomes) June 28, 2021
This photo was taken Saturday near Ash Rd in Granger. This cloud is the precursor to a tornado, luckily there was no touch down with this storm.
The first round of storms Saturday caused little damage but a lot of alarm because of cells like this.
? K. Adams pic.twitter.com/xuSq2ut15m
These clouds are formed when rain-cooled, humid air gets pulled into the rain-free area of a strong thunderstorm and condenses. Wall clouds are often the areas with the strongest updraft, but not all wall clouds are dangerous. However, if the wall cloud is rotating, that's when meteorologists really watch closely for quick tornado formation.
Michiana was fortunate that no tornadoes touched down, given how strong the rotation was in some of the thunderstorms Saturday. Warnings were issued (correctly) by the National Weather Service due to the areas of rotation present, even though there was no tornado observed.
A tornado warning was issued for this cell because it displayed rotation on radar. The radar cannot see blow 2000 ft in St. Joseph Co.
— Tom Coomes (@TomCoomes) June 28, 2021
A tornado warning would almost always be issued for a cell like this as a touch down could happen at any time. pic.twitter.com/uLPbMqxR3m