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Can a tornado form in a cloudless sky?

Question #98903. Asked by crazycube.
Last updated Mar 08 2017.

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zbeckabee star
Answer has 4 votes
zbeckabee star
Moderator
18 year member
11752 replies avatar

Answer has 4 votes.
There are three basic ingredients necessary for development of a tornado.

Moist, unstable air at the surface.
Cold air aloft.
Change in wind direction and/or speed with height (Vertical wind shear)


Response last updated by Terry on Sep 07 2016.
Aug 26 2008, 8:41 AM
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star_gazer star
Answer has 2 votes
star_gazer star
22 year member
5236 replies avatar

Answer has 2 votes.
Common sense seems to say "No" to your question.

link https://www.ready.gov/tornadoes

Response last updated by CmdrK on Mar 08 2017.
Aug 26 2008, 5:56 PM
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Terry star
Answer has 6 votes
Currently Best Answer
Terry star
Moderator
24 year member
333 replies avatar

Answer has 6 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
No.

The answer seems to be "it is not called a tornado anymore without clouds"

Tornado:
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that rotates while in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud

link https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado

So as soon as you have no cloud, you have no tornado. A lot of definitions seem to agree with this.

I would suggest that the question here best represents a dust devil:
A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small (half a meter wide and a few meters tall) to large (more than 10 meters wide and more than 1000 meters tall). The primary vertical motion is upward.

Here is an interesting tornado-like entity in a cloudless sky:

link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4QXEfSNC8I

Sep 07 2016, 8:44 PM
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