Clouds of the Day: Tornadoes?

Photo by Craig Johnson, Weather Briefing, L.C.

The answer is…NO! Even though these clouds may be mistaken as tornadoes they are really rain shafts. Two important features stand out. If you were viewing this in person you would see that there is no rotation. Rain shafts appear to be appendages hanging from the base of a shower or a thundershower, but they are columns of rain falling from the storm. To the left you can see thinner rain shafts that look like a transparent veil. Lightning was not observed at the time this picture was taken so even though it looked like a thunderstorm it had not reached that stage of development. It was a heavy rain shower.