Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN

This footage shows a huge tornado as it swept through a Mexican town causing a large dust cloud.

The tornado, reported to be of low intensity, surprised residents in the municipality of Fresnillo, in the north-central Mexican state of Zacatecas, and many of them recorded the meteorological phenomenon before sharing the footage online.

The videos show the tornado in fields around the town, with a dark dust cloud forming where it hits the ground.

Pictures Credit: CEN/@PCivilZac – Angie Zavala & CEN/Luis Navarro & CEN

It was considered by the Civil Protection as a category EFO, so that it was considered a high-intensity whirlwind or a tornado of low density.

According to Civil Protection, the tornado reached speeds ranging from 60 to 117 kph (37 – 72 mph) but it did not cause serious damage.

The authorities reported that this natural phenomenon was formed outside Jerez and went to the mountains of the community of Piedras, where it disintegrated.

Video Credit: CEN/Luis Navarro

The National Centre of Disasters Prevention (Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres-Cenapred) explained that the tornado is a funnel formed for two air masses with different temperatures, humidity and speed.

The centre said: “It originates in the base of a storm cloud when two air masses with different temperatures, humidity and speed crash into each other forming a funnel that reaches the land.

Depending on its intensity, a tornado can be classified on six scales: F.0, F.1, F.2, F.3, F.4 and F.5, and its speed can range from 105-137 kph to 322-450 kph.

Video Credit: CEN/@PCivilZac – Angie Zavala

Cenapred said tornadoes occur all around Mexico, but they are more common in the north of the country.

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