Report: 7/2/08

[BKDPhillips]

Hello,

This is my third official attempt to locate interesting features while storms go through my area and thought this was my best so far. Please let me know what you think and because I am so new - please tell me what some of these features are if they aren't a wall cloud. I ask because I could not "see" rotation or "moving" like I thought I would. Thanks

I went w/a (non stormchasing) friend around 6:45 from Olathe. We saw this feature looking north from K-10 and Ridgeview Road. Some of the shots are from movie clips so I could show the evolution or different looks of the storm structure in order from 7-7:25pm before it became blocked by precipitation and I had to leave. Our final shot was looking northeast from 95th and I-435 in Lenexa.

Thanks for your helpful comments!

Belinda

 

[Cris Schroeder]

Very nice classic supercell structure. The banding around the updraft base shows a good indication of the rotating mesocyclone. There is a nice wall cloud under the base, also. It's hard to tell from the trees but it looks like the precip core (forward-flank downdraft) is off to the right.

The rotation can be hard to see. I pick a feature on the near side of the wall cloud (or updraft base) and compare it to something on the far side, then look for the near feature to move left-to-right relative to the far feature. It's not always easy to see.

P.S., I'm fairly new at this also, so somebody let me know if what I've written is complete B.S.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

These photos look like they may be the same storm that Dick McGowan was on this day (photos on his blog here). I agree with Cris (and Dick) that this classic structure is quite nice. The striated bands are typical of broad scale rotation.

Sometimes a person needs to just sit and watch the storm base for a while to get a feel for the motion. The majority of supercells won't exhibit a rapid or violent rotation, but it can still be observed. Also ... supercells have rotating updrafts.

(EDIT - note to mods: I posted this response in the educational forum, but it looks like this thread didn't move completely or that it is just mirrored in there for some reason.)