MIDDLE STEWIACKE - Teresa Riach went to Middle Stewiacke Sunday expecting a good show. She just didn't expect it would take place in the air.
The Hilden native was attending the Middle Stewiacke Mud Slingers race when a teenager yelled there was a tornado around 3 p.m. She turned around and off in the distance was what appeared to be a funnel cloud.
"It was pretty cool, the first one I had ever seen," Riach told the Truro Daily News on Monday.
"I thought it was pretty awesome, lucky to see one where a lot of people don't see them."
The funnel cloud was part of some interesting weather that hit in the region on Sunday. It included a downpour that had traffic pulling off Highway 102, hail, thunder and lightning.
Riach said the cloud stayed off in the distance and drifted away about a minute after she saw it.
Jean-Marc Couturier, a severe weather forecaster with Environment Canada, said it received a signal on radar that something like that was happening around 3:15 p.m. A warning was issued around 3:30 p.m. for Southern Colchester while Pictou County and the northwest corner of Guysborough County were later added to the warning.
"Those cells were really, really intense," he said. "The cloud tops were similar to what you would see in Central Canada in the Prairies. In the Maritimes we'll see that once or twice a summer. It's kind of a rare occurrence ...
"You really need a set of ingredients for that sort of action to happen," he said, noting that includes very warm, humid temperatures and veering winds.
The difference between a funnel cloud and a tornado is a tornado touches the ground. It is not clear, based on a photo taken by Riach, if the funnel cloud ever touched the ground.
jmalloy@trurodaily.com
