National Weather Service Confirms: No Tornado in Egg Harbor Twp

You may have seen a photo similar to the above photo and/or video from Thursday evening in Egg Harbor Township.

The cloud formation kind of looked like it was a tornado.

Except it wasn't.

Funnel cloud - maybe. Tornado - nope.

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National Weather Service Says It Wasn't a Tornado

There were so many posts from people on social media yesterday about "the tornado that hit Egg Harbor Township" on Thursday.

Except there wasn't one.

The National Weather Service did issue a tornado warning Thursday night - actually a couple - but there was no tornado.

Many photos and videos showed what appeared to be a funnel cloud, but that was as far as it got.

By definition, a tornado is a fast moving column of air that touches both a cloud and the ground. Without a touchdown, it's not a tornado.

It's a good thing we didn't have a tornado too, because tornadoes can be deadly and devastating. They can generate wind speeds upwards of well over 200 miles per hour.

What we had were severe thunderstorms. They were bad, but they weren't tornadoes.

There was a waterspout sighted off shore near Cape May County, but since it didn't touch land, it wasn't a tornado.

What's the Difference Between a Watch and a Warning?

The National Weather Service did issue at least three tornado warnings for South Jersey Thursday evening, and that certainly was the correct call.

A Tornado Watch means that conditions are favorable for a tornado to form in the area. It hasn't happened yet - but it's a good idea to be prepared.

A Tornado Warning means one of two things have happened: A tornado has been spotted by a trained weather spotter, or Doppler radar has indicated that the conditions are ripe for a tornado.

Thursday's warnings happened because of Doppler radar and not eyewitness reports.