Mass. weather: No tornado on Monday, but ‘gustnado’ likely swept through

Massachusetts residents in Bristol County speculated Monday night about a potential tornado in the communities of Swansea and Rehoboth.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service said that while a tornado did not touch down, there were signs of a “gustnado.”

The agency describes a gustnado as a small, whirlwind that forms as a current going in the opposite direction during a thunderstorm.

“They do not connect with any cloud-base rotation and are not tornadoes,” the agency states online . “Like dust devils , some stronger gustnadoes can cause damage.”

Most reports came from Swansea, but there were some other reports in southern Rehoboth.

“No tornado we can discern,” Matthew Belk, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said on Tuesday. “[A gustnado] is more likely