A freak weather phenomenon called a “gustnado” that looks like a small tornado but is actually a type of whirlwind caused by thunderstorm winds provided some dramatic moments on a western Michigan lake over the weekend.
Video posted to social media showed gusty winds swirling around Gun Lake south of Grand Rapids on Sunday, causing clouds to swirl quickly, objects to fly and people to scream.
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The National Weather Service posted a screenshot of the video on its Grand Rapids Facebook page, describing ominous, swirling winds and clouds.
Meteorologist Nathan Gelzal said that unlike tornadoes, which form in the middle layers of the atmosphere high up and then descend to the ground, gustnados form as small but turbulent chunks of air generated by the downdraft and outflow of a thunderstorm that create swirling motions at or near the ground.
A freak weather phenomenon called a “gustnado” that looks like a small tornado but is actually a type of whirlwind caused by thunderstorm winds provided some dramatic moments on a western Michigan lake over the weekend.
NOAA describes gustnados as “small whirlwinds that form as vortexes during the outflow of a thunderstorm.” Gelzal said gustnados don’t usually cause damage.
“Tornadoes are similar to tornadoes; they occur in a very short time frame and last only a short time,” he said.
Several gusty tornadoes formed during thunderstorms in western Michigan on Sunday “along the leading edge of the storm’s gust front,” the weather service said in a statement.
Jelzal said the only image the weather service had seen so far was of a gust of wind near Gun Lake, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of Grand Rapids, and that the agency was not aware of any damage caused by that gust, he said.
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Gustadoes like the one that occurred at Gun Lake are typically packed with winds of 30 to 50 mph (50 to 80 kph), weaker than an EF-0 tornado, the weakest of which start at 65 mph (105 kph), Gelzal said.
“They’re just smaller and weaker than tornadoes and not as dangerous,” he said.
