Funnel Cloud At Long Beach, Oak Island, NC - August 6, 2005

On the morning of August 6, 2005, between 9:00 and 9:10 a.m., a funnel cloud formed over Long Beach, NC. I was at 2513 W. Beach Dr. and it looked to be a mile or so away so it was probably close to the end of the island, maybe over the sound. It was observed to my northwest. We were just packing our cars to leave so all my photo equipment was fogged up due to bringing it out in the humidity, but I managed to snap a few shots, see below. It became rain-wrapped as the storm moved away. As I travelled northeast and the storm moved northwest, the clouds looked very black and scary to my west. A low rainbow formed across the western end of the island (see photo below). I am a spotter for the State College office, so I called the report into NWS-CTP (the only # I had on me), and asked them to relay it to NWS-ILM.

I have good luck with funnel clouds on vacation. I observed a funnel cloud on Oak Island on vacation in 2004 and just missed a waterspout there in 2003 by leaving 90 minutes early, so I was amused to see one again this year!

The radar information for that time was not very useful as the storm had literally just formed over the shore and moved inland (see radar shots below). No significant rotation was detected by radar, but this was less a mesocyclone-spawned funnel and more of a microscale phenomenon or gustnado.

PHOTOS: I took a series of shots, none of which turned out too well due to the camera being fogged up, the funnel becoming rain-wrapped, and the funnel being far away. Below is a series of miniature enhanced photos, each taken 10-20 seconds apart. The best enhanced photo is shown at the top of the page, and the original photo is also available. As you can see, without enhancement, the funnel is barely visible in the photo. It looked much better in real life!

RADAR IMAGES & LOOPS: Because the storm had just formed over my location at 9:00 a.m., the radar during the time of the photos did not show anything useful. The image at the top of this page shows a possible hook echo in the approximate location of the funnel cloud 10-15 minutes after it had formed (and, for me, at the "X", the funnel, if still there, had become obscured by rain). Also available is the full radar image from 9:25 a.m., a reflectivity loop, a loop without the location "X" obscuring any data, a base velocity loop, and a storm-relative velocity loop (neither velocity loop showed any rotation). All radar images are courtesy RadarPlus. The Storm Attributes Tables are also available from 8:45-9:45 a.m., in 15-minute increments, but I haven't looked at them really close yet.

Crappy Shot Of Rainbow Out Back Window Cause Wife Wouldn't Stop Car :) @ ~9:20 AM		Dark Clouds As We Drive Away From The Storm (Shot From Car Window on Oak Island Bridge @ ~9:30 AM (Enlarge)