Massive Landspout Seen South of Twin Falls
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KLIX)-Spectacular video of a landspout and wind catching a waterfall surfaced on social media Tuesday evening as thunderstorms made their way through the Magic Valley. Jason Whited shared the video on Facebook showing the funnel cloud like phenomenon seen southeast of the Twin Falls airport.
Chief Meteorologist for KMVT News Brian Neudorf said on social media Tuesday landspouts are like tornadoes but form differently.
"A tornado usually forms associated with supercell storms and under the updraft that feeds these storms," Neudorf said. "These tend to form along boundaries associated with these storms. Today at 4 p.m. - South of Twin Falls and Kimberly this formed as the gust front or an area of strong winds moved through causing this spin up and landspout."
According to the National Weather Service glossary, a landspout is:
[Slang], a tornado that does not arise from organized storm-scale rotation and therefore is not associated with a wall cloud (visually) or a mesocyclone (on radar). Landspouts typically are observed beneath Cbs or towering cumulus clouds (often as no more than a dust whirl), and essentially are the land-based equivalents of waterspouts.
Another interesting weather video also surfaced on Facebook showing a waterfall seemingly spiral in the Snake River Canyon below Twin Falls. Jordan Gentry posted a video of water coming over the Perrine Coulee Falls and being caught up by wind creating what looks like a mist cloud: