• David Tewes •
• Originally published September 10, 2009 at 6:39 p.m., updated September 10, 2009 at 11:45 p.m.

• The National Weather Service issued notices on several days this week that formation of tropical funnels was possible.

  Tropical funnels typically have short lives and usually don't reach the ground and become tornadoes.

Danny Saldana was startled earlier this week when he showed up for work near Lolita and spotted what appeared to be a funnel cloud.

"We saw this strange cloud just rolling our way," he said. "I said, 'Look at that.'"

Saldana, who works at the Inteplast Group, said the cloud was initially parallel to the ground and became vertical within about 15 seconds. It disappeared shortly after that without causing damage, he said.

"I don't think it was a tornado because of the way it was moving," he said. "It had a rotation in it, but it was moving downward."

Coworker Melissa Fojtik, of Edna, said she saw the same cloud formation about 7:20 a.m. Tuesday.

"I had just pulled into the main gate at the plant," she said. " It was straight ahead of me."

She stopped long enough to shoot a photo with her cell phone, but was amazed to see people going about their normal business during the half hour or so the event lasted. Fojtik said she was aware of no damage and didn't hear thunder or see lightning from the storm.

"It looked like it was trying to form a funnel cloud," she said. "It was huge."

Joel Veeneman with the National Weather Service said via e-mail the photo of the cloud formation was spectacular. But he agreed it didn't have many of the characteristics of a tornado.

"I can definitely see how people would see that and think 'tornado.'"

Scattered showers were visible on the radar in the area of Lolita when the photo was shot.

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