5/23/08 Quinter Storm Question

[John Peters]

There is a lot of footage floating around from both tornadoes produced by this storm. Most of the footage seems to be of the 2nd wedge tornado that dissipated just to the N of I-70. This tornado was rated EF-4 (per NWS survey). There is also footage of an even larger tornado accompanied by at least one satellite vortexes. There is a youtube video i've seen where the chaser is making reference to locations that seem to indicated this is the 3rd tornado (EF-2). Can anyone confirm that these suspicions are correct?

In addition, on storm chasers there is a great deal of footage of the #2 wedge. They make reference to this being an EF-2, and that they missed the larger EF-4. I believe that their footage is actually of the tornado that was rated EF-4.

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all, I was on the wedge tornado north of I-70 and found damage (later survey) to be EF-4.

The wedge was a big "show" but also noted in the footage was a satellite stove-pipe rotating around the huge wedge!

Video can be seen below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M51KyuTAlKw

Also a full chase log for this day can be seen at this link below...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl08b.htm#MAY23

 

[John Peters]

Good day all, I was on the wedge tornado north of I-70 and found damage (later survey) to be EF-4.

The wedge was a big "show" but also noted in the footage was a satellite stove-pipe rotating around the huge wedge!

Video can be seen below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M51KyuTAlKw

Also a full chase log for this day can be seen at this link below...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl08b.htm#MAY23

Thanks for the clarification. That is some very amazing footage!

 

[Marc Austin]

Good day all, I was on the wedge tornado north of I-70 and found damage (later survey) to be EF-4.

The wedge was a big "show" but also noted in the footage was a satellite stove-pipe rotating around the huge wedge!

Video can be seen below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M51KyuTAlKw

Also a full chase log for this day can be seen at this link below...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl08b.htm#MAY23

I was chasing in the Quinter area that day. As I recall, the first storm which moved just west of town produced an EF-2 tornado south of the interstate. I've seen NWS maps of this tornado and the drawn path actually shows it staying on the ground as it moved to the north. The wedge tornado that you are referring to, and have some astounding footage of by the way, was associated with this first storm. I do not know the rating of the wedge tornado. I don't remember it striking any homes, but I may be wrong. We have footage of the second quinter tornado, the one I believe was rated EF-4 by the national weather service. I've seen a lot of tornado video, and I know how to spot a violent tornado. The motion at the base of the tornado was incredible! It disentegrated a large farm structure well in advance of the actual tornado. You can see clips of the tornado doing damage below. cdcollura, you may be right, the first large wedge may have been an EF-4. I didn't hear anything about this. I know the NWS rated the second Quinter tornado an EF-4. It's easy to get confused with several tornadoes from two separate storms taking nearly identical paths.

Clip1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBEDVhzwqlI

You will see the tornado loft what looks like a roof several hundred feet into the air. The amount of debris in the tornado was pretty impressive given that it remained in mostly rural areas.

Clip2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJN_1qcsDHg

In this clip, the winds rushing into the tornado from the north are so intense they destroy a building several hundred yards ahead of the actual tornado. This is repeated in slow-motion to make it easier to see.

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

In one image (taken from panorama of video still frames above), the satellite can be seen east of the main wedge north of Quinter (view is to the north, I believe it's Castle Rock road and north of I-70 by a couple of miles). Strong RFD (from left ot right) is bending the poles already.

The stove-pipe satellite tornado, center of the picture above, was extremely intense, with a well-formed debris cloud associated with it. The violent wedge, is to the left (above the driver's side mirror), and less than a half-mile west of the satellite.

A damage survey (from May 26) can be seen at the link below as well...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl08b.htm#MAY26

 

[Andrea Griffa]

As for the Quinter area tornadoes this was the right order:

-First wedge south of I 70 rated EF2 and dissipated before crossing the interstate. The wall cloud did keep on moving with ground circulation and crossed the interstate.

-A new tornado formed just half mile south of I 70 and lasted 1 minute.

-The supercell dropped down another tornado that turned in an intense stovepipe.

-The stovepipe was satellite of a new huge wedge that developed not a long time after.

-After the huge wedge heading North, a new large wedge came down south of I 70 and crossed the interstate with an incredible view (rated EF4)

-Later on, two tornadoes (a stovepipe and a large wedge) and one funnel came down in the darkness near Cedar Rapids and hit Ellis (the second one did cross the I70 at 9.17pm).

 

[Andrea Griffa]

Good day all,

http://www.sky-chaser.com/mwcl08b.htm#MAY26

Amazing panoramic view,Chris