Today’s “tornado” in Prairie County has caused lots of our followers to message us & comment on our posts wondering what really occurred. Some have classified it as a tornado. Others say it was a landspout. So who is right on this matter?
Well the quick answer is “both” as a landspout is still a “type” of tornado; however, they are not exactly created equal. The process in which both form are completely different.
A tornado is spawned from a parent thunderstorm with a rotating updraft, but a landspout isn't. A landspout requires a towering cumulus cloud to be present over a boundary of converging winds near the surface. As that cumulus cloud grows and passes over the boundary, the rotating air is stretched vertically and eventually grows into a landspout. If you've ever seen a waterspout develop, it's very similar, except landspouts occur over land.
You're most likely to see landspouts in the High Plains and especially in Colorado, but as we saw in Arkansas today, they're certainly not limited to one region. Like waterspouts, you won't see a lot of damage caused by most landspouts, although it's not unheard of. Landspouts are generally short lived & weak. Some landspouts, however, have been rated as high as an EF-2!
