Rare Anti-Cyclone Flanks Friday's Tornado

The Washington Post - 6.5.13 by Jason Samenow

“At that point we bailed east towards Oklahoma City,” Wurman said. “I’m very happy my team had a radar out there. We only knew about [the anticyclonic tornado] because of the radar; otherwise we may have driven into it.”

 (AP Photo/Omaha World-Herald, Chris Machian)

Not only was Friday’s El Reno tornado the widest on record, but it was also flanked by an incredibly rare tornado that rotated in the reverse direction.

The National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday that a rare “anticyclonic” tornado touched down about three miles southeast of the monstrous 2.6-mile wide EF5 tornado that killed 9 people, including four storm chasers.

An anticyclonic tornado is one that spins clockwise rather than the conventional counterclockwise (cyclonic) direction. Precious few tornadoes are anticyclonic, and, of those, most are typically in the form of waterspouts or non-supercell thunderstorms (i.e. thunderstorms without a rotating updraft).

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