The South African Weather Service (SAWS) said a destructive event that left residents of Montana in shock, was a Landspout and not a tornado.
SAWS said it studied high-resolution satellite images of the event, which occurred on Tuesday this week, around 17h00 local time.
Puseletso Mofokeng (Senior Forecaster: Disaster Risk Reduction) and Kevin Rae (Chief Forecaster: Disaster Risk Reduction) said the difference is a landspout is relatively smaller and weaker, while a tornado is a violent rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm and measures less than a few hundred meters in diameter, although some are larger than 1 km.
Mofokeng and Rae said in their extensive report released today, Friday, the 28th February 2025, both tornadoes and landspouts have a similar appearance, but their development mechanisms and strengths differ.
The Landspout uprooted trees and remained on the one side of the main road.
Eyewitnesses estimated that this landspout took less than 5 minutes before lifting and disappearing.
Mofokeng and Rae also said the landspout was rated as an EF0 according to the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale for tornado intensity, which is in use internationally.
An EF0 event is generally associated with light or minor damage and corresponds to estimated wind speeds of the order of 90 to 130 kmh.
At the time of the incident, the SAWS had an Orange Level 5 Impact-Based warning against disruptive rain over Gauteng and adjacent provinces.