ST. GEORGE —The summer of stormy and wild weather isn’t done yet. Evidence of that came in the early evening Thursday when what appeared to be a funnel cloud – not quite a tornado – appeared over the Santa Clara-Ivins area.
The swirling, cloudy formation was seen around 6:10 p.m. and was caught on video by local resident Thomas Callister. While looking like a tornado, it remained high near the clouds and didn’t reach the ground.
“We came around the corner and said, ‘Wait, that looks like a tornado,” Callister said. “We saw that thing spinning. The tail was forming and disappearing and forming.”
Callister said he watched the funnel cloud sustain itself for at least 2-3 minutes.
While like most tornadic activity, weather scientists still say there is much unknown about funnel clouds. At their simplest, funnel clouds could be classified as “almost tornados.” However, a true tornado must have circulating air from the base of the clouds all the way to the ground.
But like traditional tornados, landspouts and waterspouts and funnel clouds are caused because of warmer air on the ground interacting with cooler air above that cause circulation, the National Weather Service says.
Callister noted that the clouds above didn’t have the appearance of a severe storm, though National Weather Service radar at the time of the funnel cloud showed a storm cell going through the area.
A video of the funnel cloud can be seen at the start of this story.
On its website, the weather service said there is a type of funnel cloud called a tropical funnel cloud, which can be formed by a less severe storm.
“Tropical funnels have this happen on a much smaller/slower scale which leads to these funnel clouds having shorter life-spans and much weaker wind speeds, the National Weather Service said. “All around these storms are much less dangerous than tornadoes that form from supercells, but they should be noted as they can cause minor damage if they reach the ground.”
Usually rare weather activity seems a little more common this summer with heavy hail storms and flash flooding and landspout tornadoes in St. George and on the other side of the Virgin River Gorge.
And the tornadic activity over the west side of Washington County Thursday evening is just a preview of the weekend to come. Just when it seemed like Southern Utah was done with the cycle of monsoonal moisture that was seen for about a month, the National Weather Service says the wet stuff is back.
In both Washington and Iron counties, there is about a 20% chance of rain late Friday, and that increases to 50% by Saturday. At this point, the cycle of some areas getting rain and others escaping it that people became familiar with in the last month will be around until at least next Thursday, according to forecasters.
That also means travelers to Zion National Park should be aware of the risk of flash flooding this weekend.
While the National Weather Service is not issuing any widespread flood watches, it has issued an alert for the park, saying some slot canyons, dry washes and small streams may experience flash flooding Friday and are expected to on Saturday.
The warning comes three weeks after an Arizona woman died after she was swept away by a flash flood in The Narrows in Zion National Park.
The shift back to a rainy outlook is a quick change from Tuesday, when St. George recorded its hottest-ever September day since records were first recorded in 1893 when it reached 112 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Six of the 10 hottest September days in St. George history have been this month, and nine have come in the last two years.
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