Dangerous “omen” from strange, ferocious-looking cloud in Ba Ria-Vung Tau

A strange cloud that looks as fierce as a tornado appeared on the sea in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Photo: TPO

Recently, in the sky at Ho Tram beach, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, a huge cloud suddenly appeared, swirling like a tornado, sucking everything up into the sky.

The incredibly strange image of a giant, spiraling cloud that looked exactly like a tornado, both terrifying and incredibly beautiful, appeared for about 30 minutes.

On August 6, after looking at the image of the strange cloud, Mr. Le Dinh Quyet - Deputy Head of Forecasting Department (Southern Hydrometeorological Station) said that this is a phenomenon similar to a tornado.

When the cloud develops very strongly, there is a strong updraft around the air stream, creating a large vortex that sucks moisture (water vapor) in. The wind in this cloud has a very high speed, equivalent to the wind force in a storm (level 8-10), sometimes stronger.

Clouds are a sign of dangerous weather, with thunderstorms, lightning, and strong winds coming. Photo: TPO

According to Mr. Quyet, this phenomenon often appears near the sea because of the abundant amount of moisture. The cushion (usually sand) on hot days is heated strongly, making the air unstable.

“Because the cushion surface is heated strongly, the air is always supplied with a large source of moisture, so the atmosphere there is very unstable. The air flow moves from bottom to top, and at a certain height it creates a downdraft. This continuous movement creates a small-scale vortex (a few hundred meters) but has a high wind speed that can break trees, blow off roofs, and even lift heavy objects such as cars up to several dozen meters,” said Mr. Quyet.

Mr. Quyet also said that this phenomenon is very dangerous to people's lives and property. In the summer, the time of changing seasons is easy to cause this phenomenon.

“This is a dangerous weather phenomenon, signaling the coming of rain, thunderstorms, lightning, and strong winds. People need to pay close attention when seeing this phenomenon,” Mr. Quyet warned.