By Ann Butler
Herald Staff Writer
While it wasn't "Sharknado," a sighting of a funnel cloud did take place Tuesday morning in La Plata County.
Herald reader Anthony Lopez sent in a photo he shot mid-morning.
"Just wanted to share a picture taken from the top of Farmington Hill looking south along the Animas (River) around 10:30 a.m. (Tuesday)," he said. "It was a funnel cloud that formed and barely touched down before dissipating."
While not a common phenomenon, it's not "super rare," either, said meteorologist Joe Ramey with the Grand Junction Office of the National Weather Service.
His first response, before seeing the photo, was that it could not be a tornado.
"I'm surprised to see it (Tuesday), though," he said after taking a look at the photograph. "They generally have to be attached to a thunderstorm, and the closest lightning storms to you (Tuesday) are in Taos and Red River, New Mexico, or over in Northeast Arizona, hundreds of miles away."
They used to think there were one or two tornados a year in all of Western Colorado, he said, until they got more extensive radar.
"Now we have sensors that can even detect in-cloud lightning in addition to lightning hitting the ground," he said.
Ramey said what he thinks happened is that a low-pressure ridge over the Four Corners formed a tight circle spinning counterclockwise that may have "thrown off" the funnel cloud.
"Durango's no different than the rest of Western Colorado," he said. "Tornados have happened in your area, and they'll happen again."
abutler@durangoherald.com
