Drz1111 Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Unfortunately I was driving when I observed this, so I have no pictures. But I think it's fairly uncommon and was worth reporting. Driving through Elizabeth on the NJ Turnpike, I noticed a obvious landspout / funnel hanging below one of the steam clouds coming out of the stack of a large petrochemical facility. This was not just a twisting cloud, and was not like anything I'd seen before - it was hanging below the cloud, about halfway to the ground, was smooth / laminar, and rotating strongly. Just based on appearance, this looked like it was generated by the same principals as an waterspout - vorticity that had been stretched up into a rapidly rising steam cloud. It was persistent - was visible during the entire 60-90 seconds the cloud was in view, with no sign of fading as I passed. The cloud itself showed no sign of rotation. I know this post is useless without pics, but hopefully someone catches another one of these on a similar day with similar conditions (some near-ground shear, cool/cold/unstable). I imagine you need the steam cloud to be very buoyant in order to create enough upward motion in the air lower down to stretch a funnel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Star Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 What day did this occur and what time? What were the weather conditions for the day? I have a good view of the area from where I work. I have never witnessed such a phenomenon (except a true waterspout back in 2006). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paragon Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 On 3/27/2017 at 6:43 PM, Drz1111 said: Unfortunately I was driving when I observed this, so I have no pictures. But I think it's fairly uncommon and was worth reporting. Driving through Elizabeth on the NJ Turnpike, I noticed a obvious landspout / funnel hanging below one of the steam clouds coming out of the stack of a large petrochemical facility. This was not just a twisting cloud, and was not like anything I'd seen before - it was hanging below the cloud, about halfway to the ground, was smooth / laminar, and rotating strongly. Just based on appearance, this looked like it was generated by the same principals as an waterspout - vorticity that had been stretched up into a rapidly rising steam cloud. It was persistent - was visible during the entire 60-90 seconds the cloud was in view, with no sign of fading as I passed. The cloud itself showed no sign of rotation. I know this post is useless without pics, but hopefully someone catches another one of these on a similar day with similar conditions (some near-ground shear, cool/cold/unstable). I imagine you need the steam cloud to be very buoyant in order to create enough upward motion in the air lower down to stretch a funnel. a landspout! they showed this on TWC WU last week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drz1111 Posted April 4, 2017 Author Share Posted April 4, 2017 19 hours ago, Dark Star said: What day did this occur and what time? What were the weather conditions for the day? I have a good view of the area from where I work. I have never witnessed such a phenomenon (except a true waterspout back in 2006). March 23, in the mid AM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Star Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 5 hours ago, Drz1111 said: March 23, in the mid AM. As you are driving north, the Phillips 66 (Bayway) Refinery is on the left, while the PSEG power plant is on the right. The PSEG power plant has a large cooling tower system which sends up a large plume of moisture. Sometimes I see this swirling. On the left side is the refinery. I haven't noticed anything noteworthy there, except when they have their flames on, burning gases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paragon Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 11 hours ago, Dark Star said: As you are driving north, the Phillips 66 (Bayway) Refinery is on the left, while the PSEG power plant is on the right. The PSEG power plant has a large cooling tower system which sends up a large plume of moisture. Sometimes I see this swirling. On the left side is the refinery. I haven't noticed anything noteworthy there, except when they have their flames on, burning gases. Great, more pollution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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