What is a cold air funnel?
There is much debate about what causes a “cold air funnel” and scientists are still researching this phenomenon, however, the term “cold air funnel” is one of the terms used by meteorologists to identify funnel clouds that are not produced by a mesocyclone and/or are not in an environment typically associated with severe thunderstorms. Basically all funnel clouds are the same. The over-all weather pattern in which they form may be different but the mechanism for producing the funnel, namely, increasing cyclonic (or counter-clockwise) rotation, is the same and involves the vertical stretching of vorticity. Vorticity can basically be thought of as the amount of “spin” inherent in the atmosphere produced by wind shear. As cyclonic vorticity (or rotation) is stretched vertically the area of rotation decreases so the speed of rotation must increase to compensate. This is analogous to an ice skater pulling in their arms and legs and increasing their rotation. Based upon observations of cold
