LAKE COUNTY — A funnel cloud was reported over Leadville on Sunday morning, but it was different from the ones more commonly spotted on the plains.
Ashton Altieri, 9News meteorologist, described what happened as a “cold-air funnel.”
These types of funnel clouds are nothing like the ones associated with severe thunderstorms.
In severe storms, strong updrafts of warm air create powerful columns of rotating air. When conditions are right, the rotation can form a funnel cloud that eventually might touch the ground and become a tornado.
Altieri said a single thunderstorm moving over Leadville around 10 a.m. Sunday created the cold-air funnel. It formed mainly because of the wind- speed difference between the surface (10,000 feet) and the cloud base, which was 2,000 to 3,000 feet higher. Winds less than 10 mph in town accelerated to more than 50 mph at the cloud level Sunday morning.
Altieri said Leadville was never in any danger, because cold-air funnels do not turn into tornadoes. 9News
