Apparent funnel cloud ‘awes’ people near Woodstock

What looked like a funnel cloud appeared in a field near Woodstock, N.B., on Thursday afternoon, surprising residents who were quick to take a photo before driving away from it.

Morgan Demerchant said she walked outside around 5:30 p.m. and saw the cloud over a field not far from the town.

While she had noticed smaller funnel clouds around Woodstock in the past, she had never seen one like this, she said.

“It was concerning, I am kind of paranoid, I guess, about them. So I always look for them,” she said. “But when I saw this one, I thought I’d better take a picture.”

Demerchant said the cloud lasted for about half an hour, with heavy rainfall starting about 10 minutes after she first noticed it.

“There were no reports about it touching down,” she said, adding that the community had “awful storms in the last couple of days.”

“I’ve just seen what [tornados] can do in other areas,” she said. “I always look for them.”

Looked like a tornado

Shyann Neilson said she saw the cloud around the same time as Demerchant and pulled into a Dairy Queen parking lot to take a few photos.

After some heavy rainfall, followed by thunder and lightening, the cloud vanished and was replaced by sunshine, she said.

“You don’t see something like that very often around here,” she said. “Even if it wasn’t an actual touchdown tornado, it definitely looked like one.”

Another area resident, Ashley Berry, said she was in “awe” when she noticed the cloud while in the parking lot at Canadian Tire.

“I didn’t know how bad it was going to get. I was only outside long enough to take the picture,” she said. “Shortly after, it downpoured.”

CBC News contacted Environment Canada about the funnel cloud but no one from the national weather agency was immediately available for comment.