2017-06-06 REPORTS: CO

[David Williams]

Had an unexpected surprise today on Mount Evans in Colorado. Considering it to be a pretty marginal chase day, my chase partners and I went up Mount Evans hoping for some good views and possible lightning shots. What we didn't expect was the funnel/tornado at 11,000 feet. Photo was taken at 2:09pm from a pullout half way up Mt Evans Rd looking north.

[Broken External Image]:https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170607/ef1923a27a98d4b1717e58604e97c245.jpg



Sent from my SM-G955U using Stormtrack mobile app

 

[John Farley]

For sure an interesting day in the Colorado high country. I also saw a picture on TV from near Eagle of what was described as a gustnado but in the picture looked more like a landspout. I got out on an interesting storm northwest of Pagosa Springs in the early afternoon. I noticed some interesting features with the storm. I think these were precipitation features, not a funnel cloud or tornado, but I was not completely sure at the time.

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In the picture above, just below and to the left of the center of the picture, you can see a dark lowered feature coming down from the updraft base. While it has the shape of a funnel and I suppose could have been, I think it is more likely that it is a precipitation feature. But I am not 100 percent sure. Now look at this picture, taken a minute or so later:

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In this picture, the original feature is still present just right of center in the picture, though more blurry - perhaps more hidden by precipitation between me and it, perhaps actually becoming more diffuse since I think more likely than not it was precipitation, not a funnel. But note also near the ground, a little to the left of where the aforementioned feature extends out of the cloud base, what looks like a narrow tube to the ground. At the time I was thinking possible landspout, so I grabbed my video camera, zoomed in as close as I could, and got a minute or so of zoomed but shaky video until the feature dissipated. In the video I cannot see any rotation, so I think it was a narrow, intense precipitation shaft, perhaps a hail column or a narrow column where the snow aloft melted into rain. So I am calling it a likely "fakenado." Definitely had me wondering at the time, though.

Full report and an additional picture at http://www.johnefarley.com/storm60717.htm

 

[Ethan Schisler]

This was supposed to originally be part of my chasecation and I did indeed end up chasing this day. We targeted Southeast Colorado/Northeast New Mexico and got on a nice HP supercell outside of Clayton, New Mexico. This was the first and only chase day of my chasecation unfortunately. As the chase day wore on, I started experiencing severe pain in my abdomen and back, at first thinking I only pulled a muscle. So we headed up to Colorado Springs for the night and the play the next day. I crashed out around 9 oclock, opting out of supper because the pain was on the increase. Around 11PM, it was so severe my chase partners had to call 911 and have me transported to a hospital. Turns out that was the right decision because a CT scan determined that I had numerous blood clots in my lungs (Pulmonary Embolism). I spent the next 3 days in the hospital on significant amounts of blood thinner, pain medication, and oxygen so I could breathe. The doctor said if I hadn't of came in, it was possible that it could have went to my heart and killed me. It was hands down the worst pain I've ever been in, I just got discharged from the hospital in Colorado Springs today and am on my way home with my mother who was nice enough to drive 14 hours from Northern Illinois to stay with me and then bring me back home since I can't drive under my condition. This unfortunately likely puts an end to my 2017 chase season as I'm on bed rest and pain medication for the next several weeks to keep my pain under steady control.

Anyway, the HP supercell on this day was nice, I noted a possible landspout tornado outside of Clayton as the storm approached. It kicked up a fairly concentrated area of dust that lasted about 5 minutes or so before becoming rainwrapped. I'm not sure if this was a landspout or what this even was, but it's probably the most convincing feature I've seen if there ever was a case for one. Anyway it was a beautiful storm and the rest of the night and next few days put a damper on what was supposed to be a fun trip. So unless something local crops up in the next month, my chase season is over per doctors orders. The official cause of the PE isn't known, but he told me that long car rides without significant movement can be a cause of this. Here are a couple shots that I took, I haphazardly edited them this evening, so they aren't the best. When I get back home on my big monitor I will probably do a better job.


High precipitation supercell outside Clayton, New Mexico on 06 Jun 2017


Possible landspout outside Clayton, NM around 4:00PM MDT

Anyway that is the wrap, a sad one at that, but its a wrap.....