Cold Funnels!
This funnel was the single largest and best formed
of the day. I saw many throughout the ten minutes
or so I was taking pictures, but this was
undoubtedly the best for photographing. Cold
funnels rarely reach the ground and aren’t exactly
like normal tornadoes.

I got an email from My-Cast around noon (11:58AM to be exact) which stated the following:

…FUNNEL CLOUDS OBSERVED IN THE AREA…

COLD AIR FUNNELS CLOUDS HAVE BEEN REPORTED WITH SHOWERS NEAR WILLMAR
DURING THE PAST FEW MINUTES. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS OVER THE REST OF
WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA COULD ALSO PRODUCE COLD AIR FUNNELS THIS
AFTERNOON. COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUDS NORMALLY DO NOT TOUCH THE GROUND.
AS A RESULT…THEY RARELY DO ANY DAMAGE. NORMALLY…THEY LAST ONLY A
FEW MINUTES BEFORE DISSIPATING.

THEREFORE…PERSONS IN AREAS TO THE WEST OF A LINE FROM LONG
PRAIRIE…TO WILLMAR…TO NEW ULM SHOULD NOT BECOME UNDULY ALARMED.
HOWEVER..THEY SHOULD REMAIN ON THE ALERT AND BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO
A PLACE OF SAFETY IF A FUNNEL SHOULD APPROACH THE GROUND.

ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE TO BE FAVORABLE FOR THE
FORMATION OF ADDITIONAL COLD AIR FUNNEL CLOUDS DURING THE NEXT
SEVERAL HOURS.

I have seen cold air funnel clouds before, but never like what I saw today. It was amazingly cool. They were everywhere, popping up left and right. True to form, they never really get very big or long, but if you watch there’s definitely some spinning going on.

The satellite Internet link was out, so I went into the living room to play a bit of Nintendo (Super Mario 2, to be exact) while I waited for the cloud cover to pass. I looked out the window to see a cold funnel forming. I immediately grabbed the camera and went outside (I didn’t even put shoes on — which meant my socks were soaked) onto the front lawn. I perched there for ten minutes or better and kept taking pictures of the various funnel clouds forming and dissipating.

This one I’m blogging about is the best of them today. Was very neat to see and actually capture to share. They’re more or less harmless, but they’re still a bit on the humbling side to see.

–MZ