Funnel cloud spotted in DeKalb area

DeKALB – The sun was shining late Friday afternoon when Rob Frye looked up and saw a funnel cloud in the DeKalb sky.

"We were standing out there talking, the sun was shining, the sirens weren't even going off yet, and we looked up and saw a funnel cloud," Frye said. "It was a big, white long cloud that just slowly kind of moved to the east."

Frye and his neighbors – who were on First Street in the vicinity of Barb Boulevard and Cynthia Place in south DeKalb – were among those who saw a thin, white funnel cloud extend from the sky into the atmosphere just above southwest DeKalb about 5:10 p.m. Friday.

There was no noise, Frye said, just a thin white cloud that looked as if it was coming toward the group. They watched for about 20 minutes, and then it slowly went away.

The cloud did not appear to touch the ground and there were no reports of damage, according to local law enforcement officials.

A special weather statement from the National Weather Service issued at 5:38 p.m. Friday said there were no showers or thunderstorms in the area at the time it began receiving the reports of the funnel clouds.

"These funnel clouds appear to be associated with developing cumulus clouds," according to the National Weather Service statement.

The weather service said there was no immediate threat for a tornado and that atmospheric conditions were not favorable for the development of a tornado.

Cumulus clouds are "detached clouds, generally dense and with sharp outlines, showing vertical development in the form of domes, mounds, or towers. Tops normally are rounded while bases are more horizontal," according to the National Weather Service.

Kevin Birk with the National Weather Service in Romeoville said the funnel cloud developed in a way typical for cumulus clouds. But there was not enough instability in the air for the clouds to form into anything that could have caused harm, or even rain, he said.

"In a sense, they are trying to form into something, but there's just not quite enough forcing – or instability – to get them going into full-fledged storms," Birk said.

Officials were unsure of the number of clouds in the area Friday. Mark Ratzer with the National Weather Service said they received around 15 calls around the same time, including one from Ogle County. But he was not sure if that caller was referring to the same one near DeKalb or a different one.

Meteorologists also were not immediately sure Friday evening how to classify the funnel cloud. A cloud does not become a tornado until it makes contact with the ground. If it did touch the ground, it could be a landspout, which the National Weather Service defines as a tornado that does not rise from organized storm-scale rotation and therefore is not associated with a wall cloud. They are typically observed beneath cumulus clouds, according to the NWS, and essentially are the land-based equivalents of waterspouts.

DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said the proximity of the cloud sightings to the city led officials to sound the tornado sirens. Local dispatch centers received dozens of calls about the funnel clouds.

"We got probably close to, I would say, 30 to 40 calls on 911 about the clouds," said Sgt. Steve Rubeck of the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office.
 
Several DeKalb area residents called in and stood outside to watch the weather phenomenon.

Sam Buckner, 15, was in his house when his father ran in to tell him about the funnel cloud. It was just near their house, which is near Fairview Cemetery in DeKalb.

"I grabbed my camera and ran out to the backyard to look at it," Buckner said. "It was really thin, and it was spinning around a little bit. I didn't hear anything."

Buckner took pictures as it moved south and started dying out.

"It just started going up," Buckner said.

Definitions

Funnel cloud: A condensation funnel extending from the base of a towering cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud, associated with a rotating column of air that is not in contact with the ground (and hence different from a tornado). A condensation funnel is a tornado, not a funnel cloud, if either a) it is in contact with the ground or b) a debris cloud or dust whirl is visible beneath it.

Cumulus: Detached clouds, generally dense and with sharp outlines, showing vertical development in the form of domes, mounds, or towers. Tops normally are rounded while bases are more horizontal.

Source: National Weather Service