Social media was flooded with visuals showing a rotating column of air beneath dark storm clouds, with some users and even a private weather tracker describing it as a possible tornado—an extremely rare phenomenon for southern India. However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) rejected these claims, clarifying that no tornado had been recorded.
According to the IMD’s regional forecasting centre in Chennai, the weather event was driven by an east–west trough extending around 3.1 km above sea level over southern Tamil Nadu. This atmospheric condition led to intense localised convection, resulting in strong updrafts, dust lifting, and gusty surface winds.
Officials explained that the funnel-like appearance seen in videos was likely caused by a cumulonimbus cloud’s powerful updraft, which can stretch and rotate air columns vertically. The phenomenon was described as a “localised convective vortex, dust whirl, or transient funnel cloud,” rather than a true tornado.
Director of the regional forecasting centre, V.R. Durai, said the observed activity near the Thoothukudi airport area was consistent with vigorous convective weather rather than a tornado formation.
The storm’s intensity caused significant disruption on the ground. Temporary tin-sheet roofing installed for ongoing airport expansion work was torn away by powerful gusts, injuring at least six people. The metal sheets were reportedly lifted and hurled across nearby areas, striking workers and passers-by near the Vaagaikulam toll plaza.
Eyewitness visuals showed scattered debris, uprooted tree branches, damaged vehicles, and shattered glass, highlighting the sudden and violent nature of the winds.
While speculation about a rare tornado spread rapidly online, meteorologists maintained that the event was a severe localised thunderstorm with strong updrafts, not a true tornado system.
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