A gustnado is a landspout (i.e. a "mini-tornado") that isn't connected to the ambient cloud base (if there is any). Mt Everest, the highest point on Earth, there is nothing "in the way" of colliding winds to form a snow gustnado on the summit. Cumulonimbus clouds can be as high as sixty thousand feet so perhaps even such gustnado could become a landspout (or snowspout). Is there enough area on or near the summit of Mt Everest (or another mountain in the Himalaya or on K2) and the right conditions possible for a snow gustnado or similar whirl spouts to form and persist for some time (and for how long) there?
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$\begingroup$ @gansub You know there are satellites, right? Mars probes observed whirls on Mars from orbit too. But why round the clock? A climber might have coincidentally seen one. I'm asking whether this is likely, not necessarily whether one has actually seen such whirl. $\endgroup$– GiovanniApr 1 at 6:18
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$\begingroup$ It's the scale. Does a satellite have the resolution(spatial and temporal) to observe a mesocale gamma event ? $\endgroup$– user1066Apr 1 at 13:02
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$\begingroup$ @gansub I dunno. But dust whirls have been observed on Mars from orbit so I believe snow whirls can be observed (indirectly perhaps) from space if there are no clouds inbetween. But I wonder whether it is even possible or likely. $\endgroup$– GiovanniApr 2 at 7:51
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$\begingroup$ Mars is very different as its a thinner atmosphere. Here you have altitude plus the interval of gustanado at that height. I doubt it can sustain itself for longer than a few minutes with that vertical shear of the subtropical jetstream $\endgroup$– user1066Apr 2 at 8:19
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$\begingroup$ @gansub Interesting. $\endgroup$– GiovanniApr 2 at 18:04
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