LOOKS SCARY, BUT ACTUALLY HARMLESS… We see views just like this a LOT in the summer months across south Alabama and northwest Florida. It looks like a tornado, and seeing this could definitely be unnerving if you don’t know what you’re looking at. This is actually a completely harmless scud cloud. Thank you to Tammy Salter Godwin for her view from near Jay, Florida.
ALL ABOUT SCUD CLOUDS… This is a GREAT example of a scud cloud. They happen quite frequently around our area at the base of thunderstorms, especially in the summer months when we have “loud and proud” pulse-type thunderstorms that are generally not severe. Scud clouds appear as ragged, wind-torn (sometimes wispy) clouds that are dark or light grey at the bottom part of a larger thunderstorm overhead. These clouds are OFTEN mistaken for a developing tornado, but in actuality, they’re nowhere close to being a tornado or a funnel cloud. Generally, if you’re moving toward a scud cloud, you’re moving into very heavy rain. Again, it looks scary, but these clouds are harmless.
Odds are you could even see more scud clouds over the next few days as our area has a risk of showers and thunderstorms each day through at least Friday.