Can tornadoes happen when there is no rain?

Question

There is a tornado watch for my county(Wichita, TX) until midnight, however it is not supposed rain until 3am. Could a tornado happen even when there is no rain?

Answer 1

generally no, you would most likely experience some rain from the parent storm before you would reach the area where a tornado would occur. the tornado would be located on the SW flank of most supercell thunderstorms. The tornado often has no rain around it because of its location in the storm structure however there are exceptions to the rule, Some tornadoes especially in HP supercells get wrapped in rain and those are much more dangerous because you cant see whats there.

The no rain till 3am is just a educated guess by the forecasters. You have to look up to see when the forecast was issued, if it was hours before, a lot can change, especially in a severe weather outbreak like west texas, oklahoma and kansas has last night

Answer 2

There will be a tornado watch everytime there is a potential for a thunderstorm in North Texas. Tornados from in thunder storm clouds they call supercells. Others say they from in a so called wall cloud. What happens is they from where warm air is rising rapidly and cold air is driving down under it. Rain is likely in these supercells and so is hail. Winds blowing strongly inot the cell should proceed the arrival of the storm. But I have seen small funnel clouds drop down from very small thunder clouds though the funnels were not large and destructive like some that have passed through Wichita in the past. Today's doppler radar can detect circulation in supercells and give warning. Stay tuned to a local channel. Alsoin the city there should be storm warnnig sirens taht sound if a tornado is eminate.

Answer 3

This is actually normal, although I don't know about the not raining until 3am thing. Tornadoes form in the southeast corner of the storm in relation to its movement. All the precip has already passed through when the tornado reaches you. Sometimes the tornado will be right at the end of the rain curtain, or sometimes it will be inside it, making it practically invisible = scary

Answer 4

acctualy it can happen. the best fuel for a tornado is more than one air current that will collied togeather. its very easy to spot in the day as it starts with a green sky, egg creats and more than one current. it heard for san antonio to get tornados sence were down inside a bowl. if you need to take cover fast. but sence its a watch theres no need to worry right now till a warning has been issued. hope nothing bad happens.

Answer 5

yes because if there is a wall cloud it can form into a funnel cloud then an extreme rotation will happen then just like that a tornado

Answer 6

yes because if there is a funnel cloud it can cause a tornado

Answer 7

YES