Gustnado vs. Tornado — What's the Difference?

A gustnado is a brief, shallow surface-based vortex which forms within the downburst emanating from a thunderstorm. The name is a portmanteau by elision of "gust front tornado", as gustnadoes form due to non-tornadic straight-line wind features in the downdraft (outflow), specifically within the gust front of strong thunderstorms.

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. The windstorm is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology to name a weather system with a low-pressure area in the center around which, from an observer looking down toward the surface of the earth, winds blow counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern.

A tornado, typically weak and short-lived, that forms along a horizontal wind shear, especially along the leading edge of a storm.

A violently rotating column of air extending from a cumulonimbus cloud to the ground, ranging in width from a few meters to more than a kilometer, with destructive winds up to 510 kilometers (316 miles) per hour or higher. Tornadoes are typically associated with a funnel cloud pendant from a storm's wall cloud, often extending to the bottom of the tornado.

A type of short-lived, low-level rotating cloud that can form in a severe thunderstorm.

A violent thunderstorm in western Africa or nearby Atlantic waters.

A whirlwind or hurricane.

(meteorology) A violent windstorm characterized by a mobile, twisting, funnel-shaped cloud.

A violent whirling wind; specifically (Meteorol.), a tempest distinguished by a rapid whirling and slow progressive motion, usually accompaned with severe thunder, lightning, and torrents of rain, and commonly of short duration and small breadth; a small cyclone.

A localized and violently destructive windstorm occurring over land characterized by a funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground

A purified and potent form of cocaine that is smoked rather than snorted