Funnels north of Santa Fe US

[Eric Shultz]

Here is not the most dramatic photo of not the most spectacular little tornado, one certainly not putting anyone in danger, but seeing it from the yard this afternoon was a thrill!

Near the end of the event, which lasted around three minutes, a second smaller funnel formed (right).

The funnels gone, here is a southward view of the ‘vortiferous’ sky a few minutes later, but the main figure has me a bit perplexed: it seems to be a Kelvin-Helmholtz formation but also reminds me of Karman streams, which I have yet to see personally. What would other readers call this? Thanks in advance for opinions.

Eric Shultz

[Hans Stocker]

Certainly a thrill Eric to see these funnels. And the last picture shows this fantastic swirl. You won’t have much help from me on this, but it looks to me more like von Karman than KH. Why not in this turbulent movements of the sky? It is all about fluid mechanics with which I am not enough familiar with except for some phenomena that can be seen in the clouds.

This reminded me that I once noticed Gavin wrote a Wave Watchers Companion. I don’t have it yet but it is on my list now. When it is written with the same wit as the Cloudspotters Guide it must be fun to read and informative as well. Maybe he can shine his light on this matter?

[Eric Shultz]

Thank you, Hans, for the reference; it is a topic that really interests me, how a concept such as ‘wave’ can describe phenomena as different as light and sound, let alone waves in the sea and the air. I’ll place the Wave Watcher’s Companion at the front of the queue.

[Author]

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