The tornado sirens sounded in Winnebago County yesterday afternoon due to a report of a funnel cloud. No tornado was reported, and the funnel was quite possibly an erroneous report. Here is a video that we showed last night near Mulford and Guilford in Rockford. You can see a rather ominous looking cloud hanging down, and clouds like these can often be confused for funnel clouds. However, the best way to distinguish between the two are by looking for rotation. There was none with this storm, or others in the Rockford area. This is what is known by meteorologists as scud clouds, which are simply low clouds that sometimes extend down from thunderstorms. They can be ominous in appearance, but there is little to worry about, as they are harmless by themselves. However, the thunderstorms they show up in can still be strong, so its best to still use caution. There is no tornado threat in situations like this though, when there is no rotation in the storm.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 11:22:06 +0000