Bow Echos and Tornadoes vs Forum Trolls

[Jim Saueressig]

Are these cases of embedded HP supercells? Looking at the example in the picture above kinda confirms this suspicion for me.

Possibly because this was the rotating updraft in line before the one posted in my first post. This was to the NW of me when I first started shooting. This one had a suspicious lowering for most of its pass to my North:



Then this would have been second or third rotating updraft behind it down the line:

 

[Tyler Burg]

Just happened last year a few miles from my house, could have been much worse since people were sleeping, But it wasn't too strong. I was outside shooting lightning off my deck at 2 in the morning. lol. First time I saw "green lightning" or powerflashes reflected of the wet pavement. Then the sirens went off, I had no Idea a Tornado could form on the front side of a squall, but here is a radar grab a few minutes before it occured...

http://tonightssky.org/images/millardtor.jpg

It was June 8, 2008 if you want to look it up, probably labeled "Millard tornado"

 

[Drew.Gardonia]

After deleting some nasty comments from my flickr photos earlier regarding the 5/15 pics I have a couple of questions for you more experienced guys.

I was called an idiot for even thinking a hook in a squall line / bow echo could produce a tornado and that only an idiot would even focus on such a feature. So my first question to you is what is your experience regarding a possible catch from such a feature?

Myself I have often noticed that more intense damage and even suspicious damage has often occurred in the path of such an hooked echo on a squall line. So besides often being picturesque I figured it would be something to focus on when all you are presented with is a squall line.

Secondly me and my mother were both insulted for my posting that there was a possible tube in my picture in the reports thread. I was hesitant to say it was for sure even though the rapid circular ground rotation into the feature and then seeing what appeared to be a faint tube in the photo pointed to it being that. So I decided to use the tried and true "High Contrast Tornado Detector" that so many of you have used and now I am feeling more confident.

I decided to throw them both the original untouched (other than a resize) and the HCTD version up here for your opinion. Remember I was shooting at 10mm so it was much closer than it appears but that also kills detail. Any other lens would have probably shown much more local detail. You can see the dirt being pulled off of the road at 1.25 power poles away toward the feature and not spit right at me out of the West like the rest of the squall line would have been doing. At this point it is unlikely to be more than a half of a mile away. You can also see that on the north side the debris is being wrapped back into the feature.

So, can I salvage me and my mothers name here?

And more seriously what has been your experience with tornadoes on or in a squall line?

Jim,

I say piss on them.

Unless they were there with you and saw what you saw, they don't know **** from applebutter.

 

[Joel Wright]

If I'm not mistaken, tornadoes can develop quite easily along the leading edge of intense squall lines with mesovortices present. Unlike the mesocyclone associated with supercells, the mesovortices are usually located lower in the thunderstorm, as opposed to originating in the mid-levels with supercells. I would imagine with intense mesovortices it'd be quite easy to get the circulation to the ground with the parent circulation being so low to begin with.

Due to the volatile nature of fast moving squall lines, I think the chances of a tornado being on the ground for very long is pretty low compared to supercells.