Massive Tornado “Debris Ball” Caught on Radar

An interesting, and no doubt terrifying, look at one of the massive tornadoes that ripped through the southern U.S. this past week. The bright white dot in this radar image is not only the funnel cloud, but a mass of flying debris caught up in the vortex. Paul Douglas with the On Weather blog explains:

Here’s a reflectivity view from Birmingham (NWS) Doppler around 6:30 pm Wednesday, showing a 1/2 to 1 mile wide tornado. The energy beam from the Doppler is actually reflecting off debris swept up in the tornado.

(On Weather via TYWKIWDBI)