KPIX 5 Weather Watcher's Sharp Eye Spots Rare Bay Area Funnel Cloud
KPIX 5 Morning Weather Anchor Roberta Gonzales answers the questions you never get to ask on-air.
What a day it has been! It all started like this: It was at 5:45am when I noticed it was raining. It was during our Morning Newscast on KPIX 5, when I fired up our KPIX 5 LIVE Hi-Def Radar and detected scattered showers in the Bay Area. Most notably, there was light rain falling in the Sebastopol area. Within minutes of capturing the light rain on radar, our KPIX 5 Weather Watcher Kathy Munch sent me pictures of a funnel cloud, easily identifiable against the glowing morning sunrise which was illuminating layers of clouds, draped across the horizon.
I called the National Weather Service in Monterey and sent the photographs of the "unofficial" funnel cloud for review. Considering the observations Kathy Munch described with her snap shots, the National Weather Service's Meteorologist Charles Bell identified the cloud as a "weak" funnel cloud. To find out how you can become a Weather Watcher, click here.
What is a funnel cloud? Basically a tornado that never touches down. If it does, then it's a tornado. If it's over water, then it's a water spout.
Funnel clouds are rare in the San Francisco Bay Area, but very typical with the chaotic types of clouds we have been experiencing today. These clouds are all a result of an upper level disturbance bringing snow to the High Sierra and hail to the Bay Area.
A dicey afternoon with the possibility of showers and thunderstorms exists today, with lesser chances on Friday. For a complete forecast please visit our weather page and let's all keep are eyes to the sky today!
I would love to hear from you! Please send weather questions, observations and photos to me, Gonzales@kpix.cbs.com and I look forward to hearing from you!
