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WEATHER: Tornado in Chesterfield?

Posted at 10:39 PM, Oct 02, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-02 23:01:40-04

Tonya Spain sent this video to me this evening of an apparent funnel cloud in Chesterfield very near Manchester High School. 

You'll have to click on "Funnel-1-1" above to see it, and unfortunately it's a pretty small video. 

There was debris reported by several different witnesses in the area, which would indicate that the rotating column of air was in contact with the ground and by definition a tornado. 

The "shower" (there was no lightning) that produced this tornado was very small and the atmosphere wasn't one that would present an immediate concern for tornadoes. 

There was, however, a warm front where the shower formed, producing low-level shear, and the very high dew points in the range of 74-76 degrees created strong buoyancy (rising motion) and low cloud bases. 

A few peaks in the clouds lead to small isolated showers, and this came from one of them. -Zach

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