Astronomy, Photography and Weather

Just got home from shopping last night around 19:30hrs and went out the back, the sky was in a blanket of cloud which was unsettled and I noticed 2 or 3 areas where the cloud base had dropped. One of these areas start to rotate and on the edge of the base and I could see a point starting to form, anyhow I got some shots and I was wondering can you tell me is it a funnel or a scud!!! 

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2735218294_b2c908ff1e.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3249/2734399675_eb003d6bd9.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3181/2735226052_98f4ef8c98.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/2734405487_910b77528a.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2735243426_f55a68120a.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3278/2734416355_93dc889ebc.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3048/2735254976_75bae12cdc.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3029/2735261016_7f425ba83e.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/2734433219_80f89a6a1d.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2734439159_878fd069e6.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2734444809_bb120529cf.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/2734451377_81966d1af1.jpg)

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/2735291810_8da0fc5238.jpg)

Put some shots together and you can see rotation?
http://www.youtube.com/v/8Zlh0iLRonM&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Zlh0iLRonM&hl=en&fs=1

Any info would be great.... ;D

Any ideas guys! would much appreciate advice on this...

Hi Steven, that's quite an interesting set of images and good clip to. Definite rotation there. Do you have an image that's wider to show more of the cloud?. At the very least it's a scud sucker. Most but not all funnels have smooth edges and rapid rotation. Can't add much more. I'm afraid.  :-\

You have something there that's for sure. It's shows how observant you are!.

Thanks for your advice Martin, Unfortunately that is all the shots I got as it was gone within a few mintues. We'll put it down to a scud sucker.....  :) Thanks again for letting me know...

No problem Steven. I would go with the scud sucker classification there which is a slang word for a piece of scud caught in a local area of vorticity. I have been very fortunate to see half a dozen funnels in just over a year from here and I can say, based on my own experience, that you will know one when you see one because your'e heart will be pumping. They look very dramatic with strong rotation, just like a tornado suspended in air (that's what they are) . When that happens you won't be asking if you have seen a funnel, you KNOW yourself you have one. That's the best way I can explain it. I'm sure John would agree to.

Here's a youtube video of a tornado over N. Ireland retreating into the funnel stage shot through a car windscreen during a t-storm. This is a good example of how substantial these things are in the flesh, especially the big ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTQysY7JSbM

Here's another video from England which is an excellent example of their substantiallform and rotation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_3bH34g6iI

Hope this helps Steven.  :)

Thanks Martin, I starting to understand it a wee bit better...  ;D

Yes Stevie, I would be inclined to agree with Martin on that one. I have been watching for funnels
for about the last couple of years and have seen/imaged plenty of what I thought could be, but
they were no more than scud hanging from the clouds. Believe me, you will know one when you see
one, and you won't forget it in a hurry. Keep watching and you will catch one, and above all keep a
camera handy! Here's a contrast enhanced crop of one of my images from Friday. BTW, those two
black marks to the right of the funnel are birds! Wonder if they were caught in it?
(http://i38.tinypic.com/30a8e2u.jpg)

Very nice image John!

This is the funnel I seen on July 17th 2007. Although a large size in the sky from Maghera, it was actually rotating violently above Ardboe. This must have been a true best of a funnel.  This remains for me the most exciting thing I have ever seen during the day time sky, to date!. Watch out for more today.

(http://i38.tinypic.com/e0w3q.jpg)

(http://i36.tinypic.com/2ni2kvq.jpg)

Thanks John & Martin for you advice and stunning pictures, I now know when I see one I will have no doubt!!  ;D

Hi all.

My first post on this site and what an interesting site also, Just a brief bit about myself,like most amateur astronomers we spend much of our time looking up during the day aswell as at night, and like alot of people here I am fascinated by extreme weather and constantly on the look out.
I have always wanted to follow in the footsteps of my father who works as a meteorlogical officer with the Irish Met service but Physics and honours were my problem, I really think if you want to see anything extreme you need to travel, 2 years ago in Majorca I witnessed an amazing electrical Storm
which was about 10-15 miles away, thankfully, like seeing 4-5 lightning strikes p/second, was in my elements.

Anyways to cut the crap, here is a photo taken mid july of a rain cloaked funnel cloud at Knock Airport, hard to guage the distance, taken on May 30th with a Canon EOS 400D, how do I put up an image, does not seem to work for me
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3287/2745412902_eb3c11ef58_o.jpg)

Not a grat image, remember pretty far away, this is at full digital zoom and was raining at the time, so a difficult shot, have tried to work on contrast etc and is best I could do

Hi Ronan, great to have you along, and welcome to the forum. I think
I saw some of your lightning pics somewheres, they were smashing.
Would love to see your funnel cloud over Knock but unfortunately the image
has not loaded, could you try it again?

Hi Roman

Welcome onboard!, I believe we know each other through emails. That was fascinating reading about your father's weather career and hearing about that nasty t-storm!. Would love to see that image of the rain wrapped funnel cloud. Try www.tinypic.com and upload the image, (800 pixels wide or less is best) and copy and paste either the IMG or URL link into the body of your post. Should work well. Thanks.

Ronan, great to see you here - a warm welcome to the board!

Look forward to seeing your images.

Cheers,

Paul.

Welcome Ronan!  Great shot of funnel, looking forward to seeing more....

Roman, that's a very fine looking rope funnel. Great to see these things! - thanks for sharing.  :)