5/25/06 REPORTS: CO

Joined
May 18, 2004
Messages
285
Location
Centennial, CO
Spent 5/25 driving from KC, MO to DEN. At about 4pm MST, saw a very nice flanking line develop with elevated convection south of Burlington (prompting the panorama view below). As I continued along I-70 to DEN, I was greeted by a beautiful LP cell with midlevel feeder band near sunset. I was not expecting anything from the day (was heading to DEN to spend time with my family during the next couple of "down days"). The LP had FF and RF mammatus and excellent organization. I found myself a picturesque spot to watch the storm become backlit and was greeted by spectacular forked lightning and unreal sunset colors to wrap up an amazing day. Shortly after I shot the lightning photos I took some time-delayed exposures of flights arriving at DIA.

I laugh because I had no chase plans for the day at all, and saw no reasonable explanation for why these storms developed (wind fields didn't show any upslope earlier in the day). But it was a treat and true diamond in the rough for me :)--especially given the poor setup that prompted over 1800 miles of driving between Monday and yesterday. Goes to show that the Plains can offer up surprises that you can't find if you don't chase.

Going to skip today's fun and focus on the next few days since my family will be leaving to head back home (to FL) on Saturday and I need to spend some time with them.

Jason

Note: Pix below are low-res for now (for copyright issues--can't believe these have become so huge in recent years, but they have). Will post full-res on my website in the next few days.
 
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