Did I just see what I think I saw? A tornado?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I wish I had left home earlier, because then I might have been sure.

I was driving south-southeast out of Paia town on Hana Highway towards Kahului, which is about a 30 minute drive.

As I was driving and got towards the Hana Highway-Haleakala Highway intersection, I noticed, firstly, a lot of dust/smoke being kicked up in the distance. Okay, not a worry, probably work being done in the sugarcane fields, or maybe a sugarcane fire. The cane has been getting harvested lately, so not a second thought. …Except…

The column of smoke that it should have been giving off, or the dustcloud, was thin and well-formed, like a snake of white above it that, as it went up towards the heavens, had a gentle bending kind of like this one here high on up, which then straightened out. It was well-shaped, as if there was no wind affecting the ‘smoke’ if it was. It was also quite clear-white except at the base where dust was kicked up.

Like the one on the left.

What made me really double-take was the fact that the sugar mill was visible to the right with just a turn of my head, and the smoke from its smokestacks were exiting at a sharp angle to the left, an indicator of strong tradewinds. How could the smoke from the sugar mill be so affected, but the column to the left wasn’t? And the dust/smoke wouldn’t go up in such a neat column.

As I watched, the (supposed) twister started to vanish from the top down, going from clear-white to gone, though the dustcloud at the base was still visible as it vanished.

Dopers, did Maui just get hit by a thin, relatively weak tornado that landed in a dusty field, or am I mistaken on this? Waterspouts aren’t unheard of, it’s happened in the past, but the weather has been clear and warm lately. Having one actually touch down on land is something I don’t remember happening before; well, maybe once, but it was a strong dust-devil if anything.

2

Isn’t that about 7 miles? Does it really take 30 minutes?

That seems possible - perhaps a sort of “smoke devil”. Here’s a link to some dust devil photos, some of which sort of match your description.

3

I’ve never seen a true tornado, but one time I did see a weird funnel cloud forming up in the air. It wasn’t attached to the cloud up above, and never came close to touching the ground. It wasn’t a stormy day or anything; it was just cloudy and a little windy that day.

4

Tornado? Dust devil? What were either of those things doing in Hawai’i?

Maui Lion, was the sky clear? Tornadoes form mostly in storms, I believe.

5

I’ve seen the beginnings of these in the flat pineapple fields that used to be near my parents’ home on Oahu. The dirt there is red, and so you could see small red clouds kicking and swirling. I never saw one that was taller than, oh, 10 feet, but it was still pretty neat.

6

The very bottom picture on that page, the one on the left…it strongly resembles it the best. I think that’s what it was, a big dust/smoke devil. That thing was huge, I’ve never seen the likes of it before.

As for the drive, well, it’s 30 when my grandmother does it, but it’s around 20 when I do the drive. And it’s further than 7 miles I believe. To be honest I haven’t really paid much attention to the signs that say “# (Town Name)” to show the distance to the next town; I mean, I notice them, I just don’t have 'em committed to memory. :smack: Though it does take 20-30 minutes.

Oh they kick up all right, but they’re fairly rare. And yes, the sky was clear, which made the formation of the funnel all the more unusual to me. We’ve had waterspouts and the like in storms, but this was a clear day.

Oh yeah, this thing was huge, much bigger than the 10-foot ones. I’ve seen those smaller ones out in Kihei side where it’s very hot. This funnel went way up into the sky, I saw it from maybe a mile away.