6-13 Colorado Landspout?

[Ben Corby]

Around 5:30 PM yesterday, 12 miles or so north of Anton, CO, my wife and I witnessed a spin-up on the ground. I initially thought it was a gustnado, as we were in the right spot for those, but after a minute or so of looking at it, noticed what appeared to be a small funnel below the cloud.

Before going any further, yes, I realize that the National Weather Service should be the first call I make. However, I wasn't 100% positive it was a tornado in the first place, it was in a very open, non-threatening area, and I wanted to get closer and confirm what I was seeing before potentially calling in a bad report. It fell apart once we started moving again, so it became a moot point, but I did submit a report after watching the footage myself at home and hearing from another chaser who reviewed the tape that it was a landspout. Sent a copy of the video to NWS for them to review.

Here's the video, with a question below:
Watch video >

And here's the question. There were chasers lined up all along that highway (CO-63), but no one else has mentioned any tornadic activity coming from those cells to my knowledge. Did anyone else out there yesterday see this, and if so, did you write it off as a gustnado (as I initially did)? There just don't seem to be any reports other than mine of this landspout, and considering how well-watched this storm was, that's kind of surprising.

 

[Stan Rose]

I was on 63 too along with dozens of other chasers. Didnt see this, but based on your video it looks like a 'gustnado' given the apparent location on the edge of a gust front. However, ill hasten to add that there are probably lots of gray areas as to what constitutes a spout vs gustnado etc. For example, the storm in Las Animas county a couple days before had a couple spouts too, and watching that storm from its inception id say that these vortexes were basically dust devils that got picked up by the storm's inflow. Classifying vortexes by rigid standards probably is a bit too much to ask given the complex dynamics at that small scale. just my 2 pennies.

 

[Ben Corby]

It looks to me like a gust ado that got pulled into an updraft. There's definitely a little funnel protruding from the cloud base (visible at :50 seconds), and while it's not too obvious on the video, the funnel appendage was rotating during the brief time it was there. Circulation on the ground connected to circulation at the cloud level is a tornado, but I agree that there's a lot of gray area in boundary spin-ups. Heck, I didn't even call it in because I wanted to get a better look and a second opinion on whether it was a spout or a gust ado, and by the time we were ready to move on it, it had fallen apart.

Edit to add: yes, I know it's not "gust ado"...auto-correct wins this round.