What’s a Scud cloud? Many confused by ‘funnel clouds’ seen during Tuesday storms

ATLANTA — Many people reached out to Channel 2 Action News after seeing what they thought were funnel clouds during storms on Tuesday. But it’s not what they think.

Severe Weather Team 2 Meteorologist Brian Monahan said the phenomena is called a scud cloud. It’s a ragged cloud that’s detached from the base of a parent thunderstorm.

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It may look scary but these clouds are harmless. There’s no rotation at all with them. These clouds are fairly common after summertime thunderstorms.

Funnel clouds are a tight rotating column of air (that is often the start of a tornado) that never reaches the ground.

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Storms can produce funnel clouds, but never produce a tornado.

A tornado, on the other hand, is a violently rotating column of air touching the ground, usually attached to the base of a thunderstorm.

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