A myth says that tornadoes cannot rage on mountains, but a video from the USA now documents the opposite.
Munich/Montana (USA) – Thunderclouds gather when Lisa Hendrickson looks out the window. Then the American discovers more than just black clouds. She quickly pulls out her cell phone and films something unbelievable: In the middle of the mountain peak, a funnel cloud rages that looks like a huge tornado. On Facebook, the woman from St. Ignatius in the US state of Montana shares the video with her followers, who are also astonished. In Germany, too, severe weather warnings are increasing, but is this extraordinary natural phenomenon on the mountain even possible?
Tornado spotted on mountain peaks?
According to the German Weather Service (DWD), a tornado is a rotating column of air. It is in contact with the ground and runs relatively perpendicular to the dense cloud from which it protrudes. This phenomenon can also be seen on the video. A dense black cloud can be seen, from which a column of air perpendicular to the ground stands out. It looks like the tornado is right on top of the snow-covered mountaintop. The white clouds at the top of the mountain look like snow whirled up by a tornado. This is also suspected by a female voice in the background, which Lisa Hendrickson points out.
"I've never seen that before," she says in her Facebook video. Tornadoes occur when strong temperature differences meet. In the United States, they are not uncommon, already in March, 50 tornadoes were recorded in seven US states. In some cases, they destroy houses and make entire cities uninhabitable.
An American woman thinks that a storm is approaching, suddenly she discovers a tornado on the top of the mountain. (Symbolic image) © Ray van Zeschau/IMAGO
Severe weather and tornado warning also in Germany
This weather phenomenon can also occur in Germany. It was only in March that the DWD also issued a suspicion of a tornado for Germany, as strong gusts were expected on the North Sea. Now the question arises as to whether tornadoes can also occur in the Alps. There is a myth that tornadoes are not possible in the mountains. According to Wetteronline, there are bad conditions for their formation in mountains, but it cannot be ruled out, as photos and videos of such phenomena are appearing more and more frequently.
So far, however, tornadoes on the mountain have only been documented in the USA. Whether the funnel-shaped cloud on the video is a tornado cannot be clearly confirmed, according to the weather service online, as it is not recognizable whether it actually touches the ground. (mima)
