KY Woman Wondered If Huge IN Cloud Was A Tornado

I spend a lot of time on the road. My day is filled with driving back and forth from Owensboro, KY, to Evansville, IN, and back. I've been living the life of a small town, local truck driver for thirteen years. And, I have seen and experienced a lot of beautiful and crazy weather.

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While driving I've seen some of the most amazing clouds. Big, giant cumulus clouds, shelf-like clouds, and incredible storm clouds. The weather fronts are clearly visible as they move from West to East over the landscape.

Enormous tornado-like cloud in the sky

Last year, I was on my way home from Evansville. We were headed towards Reo, IN, in Spencer County, on HWY 66, when we spotted what looked like a massive tornado,

It was very scary crazy because there was no wind or rain. Everything was eerily still. I was not only a little scared but very curious, too.

Was there a tornado, right in front of me? It very much looked like one.

What do you do when you need help finding something or figuring something out? You consult social media. So, I took a photo of the sorta possible tornado cloud formation and posted it on Facebook to get some answers.

Ok, this was a fail. Nobody really knew the answer.

Finally, in the middle of the night, Ron Rhodes saw my post and commented.

Leslie Morgan/Ron Rhodes/Facebook

I'll just call it a wind cloud or wall cloud since it wasn't a tornado. But, if you mention rotation, I'm thinking a sorta tornado.

What to do if you think a cloud might be a tornado

Not, what I did. What if it was a tornado? I was acting like some sort of storm-chaser. Never do that, unless you actually are a storm-chaser.

Here is what you should do instead. Treat it like it IS a tornado. Follow this safety advice from travelers.com,

If you can't reach a safe shelter:

1. Get off the road as soon as possible. It is often better to leave the road completely than to pull over to the side.2. Avoid stopping under bridges and tunnels. These over and underpasses channel high winds, making them more dangerous than being out in the open.3. Stay low. Stay in your car, secured into your seat belt, and put your head down below the window–covering it with your hands or a blanket if you have one. Or, if you can safely get lower than the level of the roadway, exit your car and lie in that area, covering your head with your hands.