Storm chasers saw a rare weather phenomenon in Oklahoma on Thursday: A pair of tornadoes, one circling the other.
Storm chasers saw a rare weather phenomenon in Oklahoma on Thursday: A pair of tornadoes, one circling the other.
Rare twin tornadoes were spotted by storm chasers over the weekend in Oklahoma, during damaging severe thunderstorms in the Plains.

"I've got twins!" Storm Chaser Aaron Rigsby exclaimed Sunday while pursuing a storm in Osage County, Oklahoma. While Rigsby was filming two funnel clouds from the same thunderstorm, Storm Chaser Brandon Clement was filming them with a drone, showing both touch down as tornadoes.

"Based on the two videos, the two tornadoes were on the ground at the same time very briefly, becoming a short-lived twin tornado together," AccuWeather Lead Storm Warning Meteorologist Isaiah Schick said.

The most common way for twin tornadoes to form, Schick explained, is when a tornado begins to occlude, wrapping in existing cool and moist air. As the original tornado begins to weaken, the parent supercell begins to develop a new tornado in a more favorable environment.


The two tornadoes can be on the ground at the same time briefly, as the original tornado continues to weaken and dissipate.

Twin tornadoes are distinct from satellite tornadoes, which are usually weaker twisters rotating around the parent tornado, and multi-vortex tornadoes, which have vortices of strong winds rotating near the outside of the main funnel.

One of the most extreme examples of twin-tornado occurrences was the twin tornadoes that devastated the Pilger, Nebraska, area on June 16, 2014. Incredibly, both tornadoes were EF4 in strength on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and ended up crossing paths.