Storm pics from 6/9/05, Rural Missou

[Jennifer Miller]

I am a newbie who just got membership approval, so finally, here is my post about a June 9 storm in rural Missou (Salem area, S of Rolla). I am far from an expert (or even novice), but I've been watching storms for a while. Being new to this area though, I have witnessed some pretty spectacular (imho) storms here already. I am including the following photos hoping for some comments/feedback, and possible cloud ID. The storm built and changed rapidly, winds gusted at about 60mph, heavy downpours, some visible cloud rotation, but no hail. An odd thing is that there were no watches/warnings for our county, there were, however warnings to the north and east.



20 mins later:




Cloud rotation:







Well, the quality pretty much stinks b/c I only have my "ancient" digital camera with me here. But, hopefully you can still get an idea. Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,

jenn

 

[Steve Miller TX]

Looks like a pretty strong storm! I'd be extremely happy to see that right now here in the ridge-infested and drought-plagued parts of north Texas. The formation looks pretty typical of a strong gust front related to strong line of thunderstorms. I can see a little "bowing" in the structure which is sure sign of stronger winds...possible downburst.

The rotation you saw could have been just alot of turbulence typical along these gust fronts. However, you can also get more organized rotation or even a brief tornado too...usually where the bowed out part of the line curves back inwards into the storm (notch). This is often referred to as a "comma head" meso. So, I wasn't there and won't presume what type of rotation you saw.

Check out these links for more info:

http://spotterguides.us/advanced/advanced05.htm
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/m...mline/mrbw.rxml
http://www.skywarn.ampr.org/radar3.htm
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/soo/88dimg/51895_evt.htm

 

[Evan Bookbinder]

Jenn,

Welcome to the board! I'll have to do some checking to see what happened on June 9th (we had nearly 10 events in 2 weeks, so it's all a blur).

First, great pics! If you're down in the Salem area often, please contact me off list or via private message. The ability to provide pictures like this in near real-time is an extreme asset to the warning meteorologist, and we certainly hope this will become something that's widely feasible in the next 3-5 years as technology continues to improve.

Regarding your "question", remember that a severe thunderstorm is one which contains large hail (greater than the size of a penny in diameter), winds of 58 mph of greater, and/or a tornado.

Hail and a tornado are out based on your testimonial, which leaves straightline winds as the sole reason for a warning to be required. Were the winds you state (about 60mph) measured or estimated? We as humans tend to grossly overestimate high wind speeds because of their rarity. Winds of that magnitude will cause damage (especially in an area with a lot of tree growth such as your house photos). So, I guess my question to you is whether or not there was damage (didn't see anything in the photos). None was reported in Dent county to my knowledge, but this wouldn't be the first time we've heard about something weeks later. Nevertheless, an awesome set of photos that depict a well defined shelf cloud that would accompany very strong to damaging winds.

Again, please feel free to contact me off list. Do you have a contact for the NWS in Springfield for future severe weather events? Have you attended SkyWARN spotter training in the past? We'd love to have you onboard as a spotter, but only if we can use your pool

Take care,
Evan
NWS Springfield MO