NC Supercell Chase - What is this interesting feature?

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

I chased a tornadic supercell in NC along with Kevin Smith and Ryan Rogers on 10/27. In this pic you can see the wall cloud on the right and a second feature pointed out on the left. I was wondering if anyone may have insight as to what it might be. I have been assuming a second meso/wall cloud but I want to be sure. It was clearly organized and not scud and at the time radar did indicate more than one area of rotation at the time this was taken.

 

[jcooper]

Looks like a secondary wall.YIt also appears there could be a clear slot behind it..Was the storm cyclical?

 

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

Yes it was. It produced a tornado just before we were on it and another just after dark as we were wrapping up the chase. We saw the power flashes but couldn't see the funnel itself after dark. That would make perfect meteorological sense. Thank you.

 

[Skip Talbot]

It looks like the curling end of a rain free base when an RFD punches through. Kind of like bookend vortices but on a storm scale. If I'm looking at this right, its probably the southern end of it where you might get some anticyclonic rotation. Here's something similar I saw on May 22, '08 but from the opposite direction (looking east and up).

 

[Jason Foster]

You may have just seen another massive scud cloud too. I've seen them pretty regularly here in the mid-Atlantic (never in the Plains though). Too tight on time to link the photos, but they're here on ST somewhere. They are neat to photograph because they can very easily imitate a tornado to the common viewer...but they never rotate and often just dissolve as they move horizontally. They usually don't last long, but are located near the core, not all that far from where you might expect a wall cloud to be.

How long did you observe it for?

 

[Mark Ellinwood]

You may have just seen another massive scud cloud too. I've seen them pretty regularly here in the mid-Atlantic (never in the Plains though). Too tight on time to link the photos, but they're here on ST somewhere. They are neat to photograph because they can very easily imitate a tornado to the common viewer...but they never rotate and often just dissolve as they move horizontally. They usually don't last long, but are located near the core, not all that far from where you might expect a wall cloud to be.

How long did you observe it for?

Here's a pic of what Jason was describing... taken from our 8/16/10 chase:

It turned out to be scud. Not necessarily saying your area in question is scud, but it's definitely possible that it is just scud.

 

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

You may have just seen another massive scud cloud too. I've seen them pretty regularly here in the mid-Atlantic (never in the Plains though). Too tight on time to link the photos, but they're here on ST somewhere. They are neat to photograph because they can very easily imitate a tornado to the common viewer...but they never rotate and often just dissolve as they move horizontally. They usually don't last long, but are located near the core, not all that far from where you might expect a wall cloud to be.

How long did you observe it for?

I would say we observed it for at least 20-30 minutes or so before we lost the daylight while on the chase. That is why I don't think it was necessarily scud.