Typical Supercell vs Mothership Supercell

[Chris Lott]

I myself have never witnessed a supercell storm(but man, do I ever want to!). But I have heard of the beast of all beasts, the Mothership Supercell. What distinguishes this type of Supercell from your typical Supercell, if anything?

 

[Tyler Allison]

Think Mike has a Mothership Supercell picture(s) on one of his 2004 chases

http://www.extremeinstability.com/04-5-28.htm

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Mothership is simply a supercell with really darn good structure. They can be LP... Classic... or HP, although the mothership HPs tend to look the most menacing.

Aaron

 

[Brad Emel]

I witnessed my first mothership this spring near Towner Colorado. I do not have any good pictures of it due to the low light, but I do have a great video.

I posted it on my chase log for that day. Watch the video titled Tornado 2.

http://www.brademel.com/pages/storm_chase_...php?year=&id=10

 

[Glen Romine]

Maybe my definition is different than most then - because I generally don't think of HP structure as a mothership, regardless of how beastly the storm may appear. I think of a very visible supercell updraft - requiring either LP or CL structure, with marked striations and clearly visible updraft from cloud base to anvil. imo, a classic mothership meso example would be the 13 June 1998 OKC supercell, which I had the priveledge to view firsthand. My perspective wasn't nearly as dramatic as Gene Moore's though, so I'd suggest visiting the link below to see what I'm suggesting. To me, it should make you wonder if you are realy looking at a cloud or a massive spaceship hovering overhead.

http://www.chaseday.com/tornado-okc-1.htm

Glen

 

[Steve Miller TX]

June 13, 1998 was a very good example. Here are a couple of "mothership" meso pics from a different angle than Gene's:

The quality lacks, but I'm trying to rescan the photo to clean it up.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Looks like a mothership to me

(29 May 2001)

Aaron

 

[Steve Miller TX]

Yeppers! I would put that photo next to the dictionary entry for "mothership". Wow!

 

[Glen Romine]

Originally posted by Aaron Kennedy
Looks like a mothership to me
(29 May 2001)

Aaron

It is an impressive looking storm, no doubt, but it looks 'grounded' by the rain foot - and to me this makes it less out-of-this-worldly. I want to see a 'hovering' aspect to call it a mothership - after all, isn't that supposed to be in reference to a big flying object? Once it has 'landed', it just doesn't carry the same feel imo.

Glen

 

[Robert Dewey]

I can see what Glen is saying. But, it's like the "eye of the beholder" idea, I don't think mothership has one exact definition, since it all depends on the person viewing it.

 

[Jay Cazel]

This is one was back in 2002 over Reno Co Kansas. It was taking with my old Cannon and I need to rescan it in better.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

Here is an Ontario version of a mothership supercell.

 

[Justin Teague]

Looks like a mothership to me
(29 May 2001)

Aaron

It is an impressive looking storm, no doubt, but it looks 'grounded' by the rain foot - and to me this makes it less out-of-this-worldly. I want to see a 'hovering' aspect to call it a mothership - after all, isn't that supposed to be in reference to a big flying object? Once it has 'landed', it just doesn't carry the same feel imo.

Glen

It may look grounded, but a closer inspection reveals that it is a tractor beam!

This is a photo from Crofton, NE on Aug. 16th 2002 courtesy of Dave Crowley.

Here is another of the same storm.

 

[Charles Allison]

Isolated supercell over Stillwater,Ok (1989) looking west from Tulsa.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Dave C. had a terrific position on the Crosby storm, as he often does ... the view from the eastern side of the base:

Southern inflow feeding the updraft:

Vidcap of May 29, 2004 Belleville, Kansas Mothership:

Mike H's GRI mothership supercell from this spring is one of the best examples of how incredible and detailed this storm structure can become. A person can't help but feel pretty awed when standing in front of one of these things. A supercell isn't usually capable of producing such a well-organized structure until it becomes very mature, even "old" by some updraft standards. They often occur after the storm finishes producing tornadoes, but sometimes a tornado can and does occur simultaneously beneath a mothership base, so chasers will still stay out from underneath. It's way more fun to be back away from the base anyway, usually to the south or southwest for the best view - especially at sunset.