(WAND) - Areas near Wyoming, Urbana and Lincoln, IL were the locations of landspouts earlier today.  While landspouts look like a tornado, there are distinct differences.Â
A tornado typically develops from a rotating updraft within a supercell thunderstorm and descends to the surface.  A landspout, on the other hand, develops from the ground up, drawing air upward from the surface and forming a rotating vortex that then ascends.  Landspouts are generally weaker and shorter-lived than tornadoes, often occurring in non-supercell thunderstorms.
In essence, tornadoes are "cloud-to-ground" events, while landspouts are "ground-to-cloud" events, though both can cause damage.Â
