Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s a … funnel cloud. And a rural Enterprise couple captured the meteorological phenomenon by digital camera about 1:30 p.m. Monday, May 26.

Kim and Holly Hutchison, who live at the former Pearl Ingle home/real estate office, were standing outside their home when they saw the funnel cloud develop in the distance across the highway. They had no way of telling how far away it was.

“They didn’t know what was happening until we called them,” Holly said of her call to 911. The Hutchinsons said the twister never touched the ground.

According to Enterprise resident Jerry Perren, a retired meteorologist, a funnel cloud is basically the “formative stage of a toronado.” He said they normally begin to form when thunderstorm clouds start puffing out protuberances from the bottom.

“As it continues to develop with a cyclonic or counterclockwise motion, it looks like it’s spinning out of the bottom of the cloud, but it does not touch the ground. If it has enough momentum, it touches the ground (and) becomes a toronado,” Perren said.

Perren added that funnel clouds are rare in Wallowa County and that he, a near-lifelong resident of the area, has never seen one.

The National Weather Service issued this statement Monday afternoon concerning the meteorological event:

“A well-defined funnel cloud was reported by weather spotters and emergency management near Joseph and Enterprise. The funnel cloud was associated with a weak thunderstorm. The funnel cloud was short-lived, did not touch the ground and no damage was reported.”

The funnel cloud over Wallowa County was reported on KGW television in Portland, where a thunderstorm on the same day dumped an inch of rain at the city’s airport.