Funnel Cloud — Whitman, Washington

2020-05-18 · near Pullman, Whitman, Washington

Event narrative

A member of the public reported and submitted a picture of a funnel cloud in southeast Pullman, Washington. Time estimated by radar.

Wider weather episode

Moist and unstable flow from a low pressure system kicked off convection and numerous thunderstorms in southeastern Washington and central Idaho Panhandle on May 18th.

They produced five cold-air funnel clouds in Pullman, Washington over a fifteen minute period. Numerous witnesses confirmed there was no evidence of damage or circulation on the ground. An official National Weather Service survey conducted on May 19th determined that there were no tornadoes. The most well defined cold-air funnel cloud occurred around 3:05 PM approximately 4 miles southeast of Pullman, Washington and dissipated quickly.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.7264, -117.1682)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 895926. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.