AUMSVILLE, Ore. -- Tuesday at around 5:20 in the afternoon, a funnel cloud was spotted over the Aumsville, Oregon area. It didn't reach the ground and there were no reports of damage, but the images did bring back some frightening memories.
Thunderstorms were in the forecast with cold, unstable air aloft. Radar images from Tuesday showed widely scattered showers at the time the funnel cloud was spotted.
Some cells were stronger than others. While radar looked rather harmless, pictures from KGW viewers clearly show a funnel cloud developing. The images of the afternoon sky are quite ominous.
Aumsville has a population just under 4,000 about is 15 minutes southeast of Salem. Residents aren't strangers to severe weather. In fact, on December 14, 2010 an EF-2 tornado tore through the town ripping up trees, damaging store fronts, and destroying homes.
Tornadoes are measured on a scale from zero to five. Meteorologists come up with that scale based on how much damage the tornado does.
An EF-2 tornado means winds reached between 110 and 135 miles per hour. In 2010, the EF-2 tornado damaged 50 homes, made 10 uninhabitable, but caused no serious injuries or deaths.
There was no doubt some tension in the air when images of funnel clouds started appearing on Tuesday in the same area as that December 2010 tornado.
