--- title: Photographer Captures Image of Mosquito Tornado Spotted in Portugal description: This makes a Sharknado seem utterly pleasant canonical: https://time.com/124434/mosquito-tornado/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-28T16:53:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:05.710Z og:title: Real Life Mosquito Tornado Spotted in Portugal og:description: Utterly terrifying og:url: https://time.com/124434/mosquito-tornado/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Real Life Mosquito Tornado Spotted in Portugal twitter:description: Utterly terrifying twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # There Is Nothing More Terrifying Than This Mosquito Tornado by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 28, 2014 4:53 PM UTC by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman May 28, 2014 4:53 PM UTC Even if the premise of [_Sharknado_](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/07/12/perfect-storm-the-genius-of-sharknado/) came true, it would be nothing compared to this real life funnel cloud monstrosity made entirely out of mosquitos. It’s a MOSQUITONADO: Photographer Ana Filipa Scarpa noticed this phenomenon while visiting Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal. Though it looked like a funnel cloud, she realized it was actually a swarm of moving insects. “It was a very high funnel swinging to the left and to the right. I pointed my camera and began shooting before it hit me,” Scarpa[ told ](http://io9.com/why-this-tornado-is-infinitely-more-terrifying-than-a-1581975036)io9\. “But the funnel did not move toward me — and I thought it was so strange — so I got into my car and started to drive towards it, and that’s when I realized it was a mosquito twister.” As she got closer, some mosquitos actually entered her car. She estimated that the swarm extended about 1,000 feet high. Well, have fun with your lifelong nightmares, everybody. Photographer Captures Image of Mosquito Tornado Spotted in Portugal ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/124434/mosquito-tornado/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/124434/mosquito-tornado/"},"headline":"There Is Nothing More Terrifying Than This Mosquito Tornado","datePublished":"2014-05-28T16:53:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:05.710Z","description":"This makes a Sharknado seem utterly pleasant","url":"https://time.com/124434/mosquito-tornado/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre","sharknado","tornado","mosquitos"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/124434/mosquito-tornado/","name":"There Is Nothing More Terrifying Than This Mosquito Tornado"}}]}] ```