Tornado in Michoacan, Mexico

[wxmx]

This is from 03/22/2014

 

[ApacheTrout]

Wow.  Was anyone injured?

 

I assume that's just debris, but it looks an awful lot like skeins of geese are being swirled about.

[wxmeddler]

That is really high based!

[Mallow]

Isn't that spinning clockwise when viewed from above? Wouldn't that make it a rare anticyclonic tornado?

[wxmeddler]

Isn't that spinning clockwise when viewed from above? Wouldn't that make it a rare anticyclonic tornado?

 

Wow, look at that. It is clockwise (anti-cyclonic).

[A-L-E-K]

this is good footage

[forkyfork]

classic looking land spout

[HurricaneJosh]

Isn't that spinning clockwise when viewed from above? Wouldn't that make it a rare anticyclonic tornado?

 

I noticed that, too.  Pretty cool footage.

[wxmx]

No injuries, 250 damaged houses. Most of the residential buildings in Mexico are simple, but sturdy...cinder block/bricks, concrete, decent foundation and steel rods reinforcement. Still, there's a good deal of steel sheets roofs, especially the poorer ones. Not an expert on EF analysis by a long shot, but it looks like the stronger damage was consistent with with at least an EF1 tornado...utility poles down, uprooted trees, steel sheets roofs blown off, brick perimeter walls down...a bit of damage to cinder block/concrete walls, but no catastrophic failure, and a good deal of debris up and down the path of the tornado.

[ThompNickSon]

Dear MOderator,

 

I would like to rekindle a discussion about this extraordinary footage.  I am not sure that  footage of such duration and quality exists of ANY OTHER TORNADO.  Furthermore, we have three long videos of this same event.    Finally, the long "filaments" that are flyiing about the storm give a stunning demonstration of how much of the storm is outside the rotating column of dust we think of as "the tornado." 

 

Many other peculiarities: a high base rope tornado of such duration and stability coming from such an innocent sky.  One might think it a hoax, except that in one of the videos, the people taking the picture are having to dodge falling stuff. 

 

I would love to know more about this event. Could more be found out about the weather conditions that were associated with it, a skewT, a synoptic analysis?  My spanish language skills are nil, so I would need you to tell me what I am looking at. 

 

Nick

[wxmx]

This tornado was, as forky mentioned, a landspout. How do we know this? It's very high based, but mostly it's anticyclone motion gives it away. Not that landspouts are always anticyclonic, but mesocyclone tornadoes usually transfer their cyclonic motion to the tornadoes associated with it (although, there are exceptions, like some of the El Reno, OK tornadoes, for example, where other variables come into play). 

 

There's probably little met data that we can find, I'll see what I can do. Also, since this was a landspout, there wouldn't be much in terms of radar data (since there was no mesocyclone associated to it, hence no 'hook'). Probably a bunch of low level instability was into play here.

[ThompNickSon]

Thanks for answering,

 

I am going to have to study on the "landspout" concept.  I was raised to believe that waterspouts were negligible events, little more serious than dustdevils.  That thing was HUGE.   From the the strands of agricultural stuff (or whatever it is ) flying about one can measure the circulation around the actual dustcloud in MILES, no?  I take it this a hot valley amidst mountains.  Could orography have anything to do with sustaining this thing?  Anything you could find out would be grand!  

 

N

[New England Storm]

Land spouts can be upto EF3