Tornado, gustnado or something else?

[Tim Moxon]

Hi folks. We were on the "Roswell Motherships" today (June 7th 2014) and enjoyed some spectacular structure. During the chase a tornado was reported, which we saw, though our first impression was not that it was a tornado, although it was pretty interesting and did appear to involve rotation on the ground. Though we have chased quite a lot we definitely haven't seen enough tornadoes up close to be any kind of authority on the matter though, and much more experienced people have called it one.

The first sight of it is the one that people appear to be using to call it. The dust on the ground appeared to be circulating, rather than just being churned.

However as the situation progressed we saw many of the same apparent dynamics, but now it just looks like something resulting in downdrafts(?) kicking up the dust. At times apparently circulating, occasionally definitely just being kicked up. At this point, however, it appears to be below an interaction between two updrafts(?) above it. In this image you could argue that there appears to be a funnel cloud above, albeit one that looks a little disorganised.

Finally, another minute or two on, we can still see dust being kicked up, but the funnel feature is now very weak and it really appears to be something to do with the interactions above it.

We'd love this to have been a tornado, it would top off an unbelievable chase, but we just have too many nagging doubts - particularly considering how it maintained the dust swirls while losing the apparent funnel.

Any insights greatly appreciated.

Tim

 

[Bob Schafer]

I don't think you'll like this answer.

It's been said many times before that it's very difficult to answer the question "Is it or isn't it?" based upon still images. It's even difficult based upon a video a lot of the time. I sure can't tell, and if somebody wants to chime in here, go for it.

The second thing, and I've said this a bunch of times to non-chasers, is that the tornadoes you see on TV are the 1%'ers, the 1 percent most spectacular that have occurred. The other 99% are less impressive, and in fact there is a lot of grey area as to precisely what was and what was not a tornado. Lots of times it's impossible to say for sure, and nobody will ever know. My advice is simply to not obsess over it; just let it go, even though for noobs (and I'm not calling you one. I don't your chasing experience level whatsoever) I know that you REALLY want those questions resolved.

 

[Tim Moxon]

I don't think you'll like this answer.

Thanks Bob - I actually do quite like that answer as I'll happily call it one and be done with it! I appreciate how hard it is to know what definitely is one, I was hoping (probably in vain) that the latter images might help disambiguate it / show what else it might have been. If all else fails, though, I'll happily add one to the tornado tally!

 

[ChristofferB]

I love your photos nonetheless, the contrast is awesome. Have they been improved at all?

 

[Tim Moxon]

I love your photos nonetheless, the contrast is awesome. Have they been improved at all?

Hi Chris - thank you! Most of my weather pictures get some lightroom treatment, yes. As a rule some they get some clarity & contrast, highlights and blacks down, shadows and whites up a bit.

Regards, Tim

 

[Skip Talbot]

Outflow looks like a significant component of whatever is going on here, given the shape of the dust plume, the turbulent nature of the clouds above, and that the RFD clear slot appears to be immediately above it. This doesn't mean it isn't tornadic though, and a complex mix of things could be happening here. The Mapleton EF3 looked very much like your first photo during it's initial development, which is much like surging RFD outflow. There does look like a very nice anticyclonic updraft base on the right side of your last image, and I've seen a couple other videos of this from other angles.

 

[Tim Moxon]

Thanks very much for the input Skip. I think I know some people that might have some videos of it too so hope to have a closer look. Was certainly quite an interesting event whatever it was.

 

[Jeff Wright]

There are all kinds of circulations of course. I remember being at work and seeing a general swirl of clouds that was rather broad pass overhead, and we have all seen the weaker swirls at some cloud edges.

 

[1tom2go]

I hope you don't mind me adding on a gustnado sighting the next day in Roswell. It was a text book (I think) type spin-up in the outflow, not like yours in the updraft region. I am new to identifying these, but I knew it was not near the updraft which I also show in the video. I just thought this may help someone if they see it. Dirt spinning up in the updraft sure gets us excited! Thanks for sharing the great pics Tim!

Heres a link to the very short gustnado video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMoidCjq4s4&feature=youtu.be

-Tom

 

[Stan Rose]

what Bob said. If you have to think about it, it aint a tornado for all practical purposes.

 

[Rai Eastham]

This n00b managed to catch it on video - which I'll upload if anyone's interested.

I didn't have a clue what I was looking at, but it was impressive nonetheless.