Remember Seattle's waterspout? This time, we got a funnel cloud

Remember last month, when a waterspout suddenly appeared over Puget Sound, startling observers with its tornado-like whirl?

Well, now another twisty bit of weather has spun through the Seattle area.

A funnel cloud emerged Friday evening near Normandy Park and swirled around for a short time before fading away, according to experts who scrutinized videos of the episode that were posted on social media.

View from the west of the Normandy Park tornado from Matt Young! #wawx pic.twitter.com/5EEVlWmSCZ

- Michael Snyder (@SeattleWXGuy) May 16, 2026

Waterspouts are basically tornadoes that form over water. April's waterspout occurred about 3 miles west of Magnolia on the same day the Seattle area experienced a torrent of hail and reports of thunderstorms.

Funnel clouds are a bit less intense. They take shape when a column of condensed water vapor extends downward from the base of a cloud without reaching all the way to the surface of the land or water below, said Jacob DeFlitch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

In Friday's case, a funnel cloud combined with some rain and spinning wind to create an interesting moment of weather magic.

We had some scattered showers" in the area, including one particular shower that included some rotation, DeFlitch said. "We did confirm there was a funnel cloud with that shower as it moved through."

University of Washington meteorologist and weather blogger Cliff Mass called the funnel cloud a "weak tornadic event" associated with a "modest area of convection. These are pretty common over Puget Sound, he wrote.

The weather service didn't receive any reports of damage and the rotating rain cloud probably lasted less than a minute, DeFlitch said.

Waterspout. Funnel cloud. What's next? More sun would be nice.

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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 9:43 AM.