Gustnado vs. Tornado: What's the difference?

For the second time in less than a week, strong to severe storms roamed across northern Illinois.

Diving into Monday's severe weather event, there seemed to be a few conflicting reports on whether to classify what some saw as a tornado or something we call a "gustnado". You may have heard this term thrown around from time to time during severe weather seasons of the past. 

For those that are unfamiliar, a gustnado is a rotating column of air that develops off the storm's outflow (rain-cooled air) or gust front. When the rain cooled air slams into the surface, little eddies form which then turns into a gustnado – visualized often by dirt or dust being kicked up.

We can't classify a gustnado as a tornado because it isn't connected to a storm's cloud base or rotating wall cloud. And that's where the difference lies!

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that does extend from the storm's cloud base to the surface. Now, when observing tornadoes, there are times where you'll see the funnel fully condense to the ground, other times you will not.

Any damage that is caused by a gustnado is classified as a thunderstorm wind event. 

As of this morning, the Storm Prediction Center has 0 tornado reports from yesterday's event. But it will be interesting to see what the National Weather Service finds if they do choose to go out and conduct surveys.