Leafnadoes . . . Huh?

There's no doubt in anybody's mind that it was a blustery day today . . . with wind gusts over 50mph in some cities, and sustained winds ranging between 25-40 miles per hour... there was really just no hiding from the wind if you stepped outside at all today. And while those winds may be wicked... they make quite the sight in the yard during the fall. The winds are essential to leafnadoes...
Now exactly what IS a leafnado... Well you just have to dissect the word a bit. Leaf... well, that's pretty self explanatory... Now: nado... this is the suffix of "tornado" so basically a leafnado is a swirling vortex of leaves. A very common sight on days like today. Here's a YouTube video of a leafnado someone caught... it's a bit bright, but you can kind of see it near the end of the video. I didn't coin the term... but it was a common term we used when I was in college. A good friend of mine from ISU wrote about these last year, here's his definition (thanks to the the Rockford weather blog) : "You've probably seen leaves and other small debris briefly swirling around before, typically near an inside corner to a building. Those are leafnadoes! Of course, it's a non-technical term and hardly anything to take seriously, but when I was at Iowa State, we would joke about leafnadoes every fall." (I grabbed this picture from his blog - Thanks JG if you're reading!)

Kind of a fun thing to talk about when it comes to winds - the non-destructive kind sweeping the light, fall-colored leaves against the blue sky in a swirling symphony. I love fall - can you tell?

If you don't like the leafnadoes... just sit tight one more day, Monday will still be a windy day, just not as blustery. High pressure builds in by Tuesday, so we'll get a bit of relief from the winds then.

Enjoy the sights!

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka