Totally Not a Tornado: ‘Harmless’ Funnel Cloud Spotted Over US Capitol
© AFP 2023 / ALEX EDELMAN
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Washingtonians were mildly alarmed on Tuesday afternoon when a funnel cloud appeared in the skies over the US Capitol Building.
Severe storms swept through the Washington, DC, metropolitan area on Tuesday, spurred on by the hot, humid weather typical of July in the region. While sometimes it can cook up dangerous tornadoes, meteorologists around the nation’s capital reassured residents that the day's sighting of a funnel cloud was “harmless.”
Here's the view of the funnel from Arlington looking east over @Reagan_Airport at 12:25 pm. @HillaryHowardDC shot these. @capitalweather @dougkammerer @StormHour @amelia_draper @SteveRudin7News #stormhour pic.twitter.com/kVmDXm5ah8
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) July 25, 2023
Photos posted on social media showed a wispy, winding cone of cloud extending from the bottom of the mighty storm clouds overhead. Many users tagged local weather stations with alarmed questions about the sighting.
Hey @capitalweather what’s this just seen over the Capitol dome?!?!? pic.twitter.com/w4DoHPbJFB
— Peter Kiley (@PDad) July 25, 2023
“WOW! Funnel cloud over the US Capitol,” meteorologist Matthew Cappucci tweeted. “Rest assured this is NOT tornadic - just a happy accident.”
One social media user joked the funnel cloud was a “Scud bomb for sure,” alluding to the Soviet-built ballistic missile used against US forces by Iraq during the Gulf War.
According to the US National Weather Service, a funnel cloud is a rotating column of air that extends from the base of a cloud, but does not touch the ground, so it is harmless at ground level.
The nation’s capital has experienced very real tornadoes in the past, however, including two twisters that cut their way across the city in July 2021.
