Michael Snyder
EF3
For May 26th it was fairly obvious that they play would be the Denver Cyclone. There was some chatter about SE Colorado, but I think most (everyone?) stayed north.
Having chased this setup several times previously it was pretty clear what to expect: Wait for the dominant storm to get organized, start to move right and parallel to HWY 36.
After it started to make its turn it had a well defined wall cloud free of any precipitation and I saw and videoed what appeared to be a weak brief tornado. I saw Reed Timmers video and he had claimed the same thing. The reason why I do not think it was a gustnado was because of it's location under the wall cloud. Later gustandoes were associated with the leading edge of the shelf cloud.
Speaking of the wall cloud, it was so gorgeous and photogenic that its a damn shame that it produce a tornado. It would have probably been one of my best photos ever if it had!
Speaking of Gustnadoes... As I was trying to avoid the massive core I was just under the shelf cloud and was hit with a very noticeable and farily strong gustnado. It was rotating rapidly and had lots of plan debris in it. The wind was fairly calm at my location and then all of the sudden I saw the debris and thought quickly "oh... RFD?". A second later was thinking tornado??? Then it was obvious it was a after I looked up and saw the edge of the shelf cloud and where I was that it was a gustnado. When it hit me it actually pushed my small rental car across the muddy road. I watched for about 8-10 seconds as the gustnado continued to race SSE. I was really surprised at the strength of the rotation.
After this supercell I thought I would just get west and head back to Denver when a beautiful supercell appeared to the west of the main show. It had one of if not the most beautiful shelf clouds I've ever seen. For a few moments it even showed a rotation couplet. I got good timelapse video of the rotating storm, and then headed back to Denver where I had to pass through yet another vigorous core.
Not a top 5 chase, but because of the gustando it was one of the more intense chases I've ever had. I now officially believe that they are indeed dangerous features and not to be taken lightly! Watch out if you are under shelf cloud overhang!
Having chased this setup several times previously it was pretty clear what to expect: Wait for the dominant storm to get organized, start to move right and parallel to HWY 36.
After it started to make its turn it had a well defined wall cloud free of any precipitation and I saw and videoed what appeared to be a weak brief tornado. I saw Reed Timmers video and he had claimed the same thing. The reason why I do not think it was a gustnado was because of it's location under the wall cloud. Later gustandoes were associated with the leading edge of the shelf cloud.
Speaking of the wall cloud, it was so gorgeous and photogenic that its a damn shame that it produce a tornado. It would have probably been one of my best photos ever if it had!
Speaking of Gustnadoes... As I was trying to avoid the massive core I was just under the shelf cloud and was hit with a very noticeable and farily strong gustnado. It was rotating rapidly and had lots of plan debris in it. The wind was fairly calm at my location and then all of the sudden I saw the debris and thought quickly "oh... RFD?". A second later was thinking tornado??? Then it was obvious it was a after I looked up and saw the edge of the shelf cloud and where I was that it was a gustnado. When it hit me it actually pushed my small rental car across the muddy road. I watched for about 8-10 seconds as the gustnado continued to race SSE. I was really surprised at the strength of the rotation.
After this supercell I thought I would just get west and head back to Denver when a beautiful supercell appeared to the west of the main show. It had one of if not the most beautiful shelf clouds I've ever seen. For a few moments it even showed a rotation couplet. I got good timelapse video of the rotating storm, and then headed back to Denver where I had to pass through yet another vigorous core.
Not a top 5 chase, but because of the gustando it was one of the more intense chases I've ever had. I now officially believe that they are indeed dangerous features and not to be taken lightly! Watch out if you are under shelf cloud overhang!
