00:05Videos of cars being shoved around by fierce winds at a tall plaza in Kota Damansara went
00:10viral. Many social media users were quick to call the Tuesday evening storm a mini tornado.
00:16The Malaysian meteorological department said a land spout or mini tornado struck the Damansara
00:21area during the evening rush hour. They said the land spout was caused by active thunderstorm
00:27clouds known as cumulonimbus. They said a tornado is a fast rotating column of air formed by wind shear
00:33and updrafts as thunderstorm clouds develop. Tornadoes in Malaysia occur only on a relatively
00:39small scale measuring less than 10 meters and lasting for a very short time. They said this
00:45made their formation difficult to detect by radar and weather satellite but they had issued a
00:50thunderstorm warning for districts in Selangor at 5 30 pm. They said land spouts which are tornadoes
00:56over land and water spouts over the sea occur frequently during the monsoon transition phase
01:01from march to may and from september to october.
