Jesse Risley
Staff member
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Targeted the Denver Convergence Vorticity Zone yesterday, as parameters were looking good for late afternoon as instability improved with return moisture flow, reaching the low to mid 50's across E CO by early evening. Our group initially targeted east of Windsor, and a few cells went up early, with some struggle, before a few dominant cells were able to mature and develop nice hail cores with solid looking updrafts. We jumped south when we saw a storm SE of Denver growing rapidly, and it appeared to be moving in a pattern that was conductive for tornadic development given its proximity to the boundary. We initially intercepted this cell SSW of Byers, CO, and then decided to reposition north of Kiowa and east of Ponderosa Park (Elbert County) due to the position of the rain free base and the slow storm motion to the ESE at 5 mph. The storm eventually produced a tornado that lasted for 5-8 minutes, though was lower contrast at time, taking on the form of a cone, multi-vortext/not fully condensated?/rope. A few lower-quality still shots from the NX5U video are attached; I'll post video later. A nice closure to the chase was the stunning mammatus clouds to the SW near Colorado Springs and the rather substantial accumulations of hail in the Castle Rock and Parker areas, creating the most "winter like" conditions that I have ever seen from a hail storm.
Targeted the Denver Convergence Vorticity Zone yesterday, as parameters were looking good for late afternoon as instability improved with return moisture flow, reaching the low to mid 50's across E CO by early evening. Our group initially targeted east of Windsor, and a few cells went up early, with some struggle, before a few dominant cells were able to mature and develop nice hail cores with solid looking updrafts. We jumped south when we saw a storm SE of Denver growing rapidly, and it appeared to be moving in a pattern that was conductive for tornadic development given its proximity to the boundary. We initially intercepted this cell SSW of Byers, CO, and then decided to reposition north of Kiowa and east of Ponderosa Park (Elbert County) due to the position of the rain free base and the slow storm motion to the ESE at 5 mph. The storm eventually produced a tornado that lasted for 5-8 minutes, though was lower contrast at time, taking on the form of a cone, multi-vortext/not fully condensated?/rope. A few lower-quality still shots from the NX5U video are attached; I'll post video later. A nice closure to the chase was the stunning mammatus clouds to the SW near Colorado Springs and the rather substantial accumulations of hail in the Castle Rock and Parker areas, creating the most "winter like" conditions that I have ever seen from a hail storm.
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