Videos, photos capture small tornado siting near Tri-Cities

What appeared to be a weak tornado was spotted near the Tri-Cities Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

It said the funnel of clouds was most likely a landspout, a type of tornado associated with towering cumulus clouds rather than a thunderstorm.

There were multiple reports of a funnel-shaped cloud, with one report of seeing it across the Columbia River from Richland.

Another person posted on social media that it was in the Road 68 area of Pasco, where she said they are seen occasionally.

It dissipated quickly and was gone by 4 p.m.

And there were no immediate reports of any damage Thursday.

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About a year ago a similar small tornado was spotted near Richland.

“Not all tornadoes are created equally,” the weather service posted on social media after last year’s landspout. “The definition for a tornado is pretty loose and still discussed, but generally only requires a rapidly rotating column of air to be in contact with both the ground and the clouds above.”

Landspouts can occur in very weak storms and in some cases with nothing more than a shower.

As a shower or storm develops, it transports air upward in what is called an updraft, according to the weather service.

The updrafts can stretch existing spin within the atmosphere, causing small circulations near the ground to contract and spin up. The weather service compared it to an ice skater who pulls in their arms to spin faster.

Landspouts form from the ground up rather than from the storm down to the ground, which is more common for traditional tornadoes.

“They are normally short-lived and quite weak, but they can loft lawn furniture, trampolines and bouncy houses, which is why they still need our respect and attention,” the weather service said.

This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 4:51 PM.