MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — It is probably not what you’d count on to see in the midst of an Arctic blast: a “snownado.”
Tom Gifford noticed one alongside the lakeshore in Muskegon Wednesday:
A “snownado” in Muskegon on Jan. 22, 2025. (Courtesy Tom Gifford)
The shores of Lake Michigan are one of many solely locations you’re more likely to see one throughout a winter storm.
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A SNOWNADO?
Snownados are just like a mud satan in that they’re each very small-scale rotating columns of air characterised by what materials they raise off the bottom.
Nevertheless, whereas mud devils are often shaped by fast floor heating, snownados develop when there’s a wealth of wind shear — or change in velocity and route over a brief distance — close to the floor. Given the highly effective winds that developed with the Arctic blast and the variable terrain inherent to the lakeshore, it was an ideal setup to have snownados happen.
Photographs: Freezing, snowy West Michigan amid Arctic blast
HOW COMMON ARE SNOWNADOS?
Whereas West Michigan had the right substances in place for snownados to kind in the course of the Arctic blast, they’re a uncommon phenomenon. Snownados received’t occur with each winter storm.
ARE SNOWNADOS DANGEROUS?
Snownados are sometimes not threatening. The cyclones are very localized and fast to kind and dissipate.
The winds related to a snownado aren’t practically as quick as people who happen with a typical twister as a result of it’s a surface-based spin-up, whereas a twister is shaped partly by a quickly rotating thunderstorm aloft, which carries considerably extra vitality.
