WASHINGTON — Observant guests to the realm across the U.S. Capitol constructing on Tuesday afternoon had been handled to an uncommon sight: the unmistakable form of a funnel cloud extending diagonally from the sky and seemingly virtually reaching the tip of the Capitol dome itself.

The funnel cloud by no means touched down on the bottom and subsequently can’t be labeled as a twister. There was no injury and no experiences of every other funnel clouds within the space Tuesday. But a photograph of the skinny, wispy tornado curving over the Capitol drew greater than 1 million views on Twitter.

Although the realm round Washington isn’t thought-about a twister hotspot, small proto-twisters just like the one Tuesday “certainly do happen sometimes,” stated Austin Mansfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

They’re most typical throughout what Mansfield referred to as “convection season” — the nice and cozy months operating from spring via the tip of summer time. Although sturdy thunderstorms are pretty routine within the nation’s capital, Mansfield stated a specific sort of “spin in the atmosphere” is what suggestions issues over into funnel cloud circumstances.

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