Unexpected tornado

[Todd Lemery]

This tornado happened on my birthday just North of my house. There really wasn't much of a storm to speak of. In fact, the storm that put it down didn't produce any lightening. It's actually a pretty good looking tornado considering the storm that produced it. Anybody else have a surprise tornado from a "nothing" storm?

http://www.weather.gov/mqt/Menominee_County_Tornado_August_11_2016

 

[Jeff Duda]

Doesn't look terribly weak either. Just goes to show that tornadogenesis does not require an environment supportive of supercells. Tornadoes truly are a different type of phenomenon.

 

[rdale]

the storm that put it down didn't produce any lightening

But those clouds sure did result in a lot of darkening!

Interesting that there was no lightning either

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

I posted this in another thread (front porch chasing) but it was totally unexpected. Walked outside after hearing thunder and there it was. No structure at all...just dead flat base as far as I could see.

 

[Robert Forry]

I think the U.P. has had quite a few "surprise" tornadoes this season, this being one of them, and to Jeff's point, the environment doesn't always have to be perfect for it to happen.. ☺

 

[rdale]

6 tornadoes with no lightning on a non-tornado predicted day just this Saturday in Grand Rapids! http://www.weather.gov/grr/summary20160820

 

[joel ewing]

But those clouds sure did result in a lot of darkening!

Interesting that there was no lightning either

Yes it indeed is. Yet I have definitely noticed a pattern over the years that a storm's lightning will sometimes cease dramatically coincident with tornado formation, and an appearance that the storm may actually be weakening. It's always seemed a bit baffling to me.

 

[joel ewing]

I posted this in another thread (front porch chasing) but it was totally unexpected. Walked outside after hearing thunder and there it was. No structure at all...just dead flat base as far as I could see.

View attachment 14540

I posted this in another thread (front porch chasing) but it was totally unexpected. Walked outside after hearing thunder and there it was. No structure at all...just dead flat base as far as I could see.

View attachment 14540

Now your new mantra at the bottom of each of your posts will be from your wife: "But Babe....Why do you feel you have to leave home for a few hours each time you see lightning, you seem to have the most success right from our front porch?"

 

[Marc R. O'Leary]

Now your new mantra at the bottom of each of your posts will be from your wife: "But Babe....Why do you feel you have to leave home for a few hours each time you see lightning, you seem to have the most success right from our front porch?"

I have had a fair bit of success from the house this year, mostly lightning but topped off by that little tornado. And she got to see her first tor, so that's cool too.

In any case, she knows my chasing is my time, and while I take her on a handful of chases more now that in the past, its still my thing to do on my own. She doesn't mind at all.

 

[rdale]

How about 40+ tornadoes on a 0 risk day?

 

[Stan Rose]

How about 40+ tornadoes on a 0 risk day?

It wasn't a zero risk, it was a 1% risk, just didn't make the cutoff...

 

[rdale]

"Slightly marginal"

 

[joel ewing]

I have had a fair bit of success from the house this year, mostly lightning but topped off by that little tornado. And she got to see her first tor, so that's cool too.

In any case, she knows my chasing is my time, and while I take her on a handful of chases more now that in the past, its still my thing to do on my own. She doesn't mind at all.

That's great that your bride got to see her first tornado from her porch. What a perfect way to break her in!
I've been so lucky too with being married to who I'm married to with respect to chasing. Now, she's been "broken in" in a much different way....and in a manner that completely traumatized her permanently. In '66 she was only a couple of blocks from the infamous Topeka F-5. Then, 3 years later in '69...i.f that wasn't enough, while her first husband was away fighting in Vietnam, she was living about a half-mile from the beach in Biloxi/Gulfport Mississippi when one of the worst 'canes in American history made a bulls-eye direct hit on that city....with sustained winds over 200 mph and I think measured gusts at 220mph. It's a miracle she wasn't killed in either case. Now....even all these years later, if it's sunny out like it usually is here in southern Arizona but there is enough wind to make the power lines kind of sing....she'll begin shaking. She can't help it. And if this happens at night....she'll get ZERO sleep. So....the gal marries a storm-chaser!! lol. But....like your wife, mine knows that I'm not an idiot out in the field and safety is of utmost concern with my chase partner and me.