Rare tornado types

Anticyclonic tornadoes

• Rotate clockwise (opposite of standard Northern Hemisphere).
• Rare: <1% of tornadoes.
• Form on LEFT flank of supercells (left-movers).
• Or in special storm modes.
• Wind physics identical to cyclonic; direction differs.
• Documented anticyclonic tornado: 2013 El Reno had one.

Satellite tornadoes

Independent tornado outside the main mesocyclone.

• Same parent supercell.
• Not a subvortex of the parent tornado.
• Rare but documented in famous outbreaks.
• Sometimes visible in wide chase shots.
• 2011 Tuscaloosa-Birmingham had documented satellites.
• 2013 El Reno — chased alongside main.
• Distinct funnel from parent tornado.

Twin tornadoes

Multi-vortex tornadoes

One tornado containing multiple smaller vortices rotating around center.

• 2013 El Reno — massive multi-vortex.
• 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore F5 — visible subvortex structure.
• 2007 Greensburg EF5 — filmed multi-vortex phase.
• Damage patterns highly variable in path.
• Peak winds in subvortices, not overall parent.

Cyclic tornadoes

Supercells that produce multiple tornadoes sequentially.

• Each tornado occludes and dies.
• New tornado forms east or northeast of previous.
• Can produce 4-8 tornadoes over hours.
• 1965 Palm Sunday outbreaks had cyclic supercells.
• 2011 Tuscaloosa supercell was cyclic.
• 2013 Moore day's parent storm was cyclic.

Wedge tornadoes

• Wider than tall.
• Not a distinct "type" — a shape.
• Typically EF2+.
• Photogenic and terrifying.
• Sometimes multi-vortex under wedge shroud.
• 1990 Plainfield, 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore, 2013 Moore all wedges.

Rope tornadoes

• Thin, snake-like.
• Often end-of-life dissipation.
• Sometimes newly formed.
• Can still be EF3 despite thin appearance.
• Photogenic during rope-out.
• Beautiful photograph subject at sunset.

Cone tornadoes

• Classic funnel shape.
• The image most people picture.
• Common configuration.
• Range EF0-EF5.
• Most textbook images.

Stovepipe tornadoes

• Tall, narrow, straight column.
• Between rope and cone in width.
• Often EF2-EF3.
• Chaser-favorite for photography.
• Steady, well-defined.

Waterspout tornadoes (over land)

• Waterspouts that move onshore.
• Retain waterspout characteristics (not supercell-derived).
• Weaker typically.
• Rare in most regions.
• Common in Florida.
• Damage: weak-to-moderate.

Fire tornadoes

• Wildfire-generated true tornadoes.
• Extremely rare.
• 2003 Canberra Australia — first officially documented.
• 2018 Carr Fire CA — first EF-rated in US.
• Physics: pyroCB supercells.
• Increasing with fire season intensification.

Steam tornadoes

• Cold air over warm water in fall/winter.
• Very rare.
• Over Great Lakes occasionally.
• Photogenic.
• Weak vortices.

Snow tornadoes

• Snow devils.
• Solar heating on snow surface.
• Rare and weak.
• Northern Plains.

Landspouts

• Non-supercell tornadoes.
• From surface boundary rotation stretched by growing cumulus.
• Common in Colorado front range.
• Common in Florida sea breeze.
• Usually weak (EF0-EF1).
• Photogenic when dust-lit.

Gustnadoes

• Not true tornadoes.
• Non-tornado spin-up on gust front.
• No connection to cloud base.
• Sometimes damaging.
• Often mislabeled as tornadoes.

The very rare oddities

• Dust devils reaching cloud base (near-tornado but non-supercell).
• Vortex reversals in bow echoes.
• Meteotsunami-linked tornadoes on Great Lakes.
• Tropical cyclone spawned tornadoes.
• Snow squall spin-ups.
• Cold-air funnels (rarely reach ground).

Learn more

• Multi-vortex tornadoes
• Landspouts vs tornadoes
• Waterspouts explained
• Fire tornado science