Wall cloud identification quiz

[Brian Stertz]

I have come up with yet another educational quiz that is probably a little more difficult than my last one. This newest quiz involves wall cloud identification, and picking out the wall clouds that ended up dropping a tornado. All the wall clouds listed were tornado warned at the time of the picture. This one is trickier because the visual clues are again static, but the rotation of each is of a different magnitude. I have this linked off my website Vortex Times. Please post your answers as a reply to this thread on Storm Track. I will pull down the weblink on Jan. 1st, and reveal the answers that night. I had a good response and lots of positive feedback on my last one. Enjoy.

Here is the quiz link:

http://vortex-times.com/wallcloudquiz.htm


Hope you have a Happy Holidays...and a blessed New Years !!

 

[Billy Griffin]

Okay, first off, are you certain all of these are true wall clouds? #2 looks more like just a rain-free base, #5 resembles more of a shelf/roll, #6 resembles a shelf, #7 resembles a shelf, and numbers #9 and #10 also could be more resemblant of a shelf, although to me, #10 looks much better than #9.

As far as which ones produced tornadoes, here's my picks...

#3 - looks like some good organization there with a possible funnel in the center?

#4 - looks very broad obviously, but somewhat ragged. Could it perhaps have produced a tornado previously? If the rotation was tighter, I'd say that one is the most impressive. Very low to the ground indeed!

#6 - Looks like a producer to me.

#8 - distance of the photo makes the organization somewhat of a challenge, but it has the look of a potential producer.

 

[Joseph Tyree]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

I quickly glanced through all the pics and then went through and studied them individually. My answers didn't change from my original glance.

I'm guessing #'s 3,4,10 produced tornadoes.


***edited for grammar/sentence structure - No edit to answers***

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I am gonna guess 4, 6, and 9

 

[David Wolfson]

Heh. Tough!

My picks (guesses?) for tornadic are: 2, 4, 6, 7, and 9.

2 particularly seems unlikely, being so high-based. But I think it's early in the formative stage and I imagine I start to see what will become the tornado mid-10 o'clock in ten minutes or so.

... and happy holidays/New Year to you, too, Brian!!!

 

[Brian Stertz]

These are all meso related rotating wall clouds...all tornado warned...in different scenarios. Some of these have the classic appearance, and some have kind of a hybrid look.

 

[Dick McGowan]

Great quiz again Brian! I will go with 1,2,3, and 9.

 

[afischer]

Cool idea.

Here's my guess for tornado producers: 3, 4, 6, 8, 10.

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

I'll go with 1, 3, 4 and 9.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Another great quiz from Brian ... in the field I've gotten to where I feel fairly comfortable that tornadogenesis is imminent, but its crazy how many times you'd swear that the magic was coming and then it goes up in smoke.

My guesses (probably wrong on all counts, but still good exercise):

2. for some reason I've noticed when the base on the wall cloud smooths out like this, it's about to go for it

9. Looks like rotation is tightening up nicely

10. same with this one ... I'm guessing it produced

Some comments on the others (who knows):

1. looks like a developing funnel with possible circulation, but it's just too dang blocky to tell what it's trying to do

3. looks disorganized

4. looks great and low, but sometimes when I've seen these really low hanging WC's I've associated them more with a newer area of circulation while the tornado forms somewhere else, like back to the south, a ways away from the actual WC

5. Too blocky ... I have no idea what's going on there going off of looks alone

6. looks good and like there's good RFD development, but again, just too tough to call

7. looks almost too organized ... like a storm that is already done producing its tornadoes for the most part and is now just sitting and spinning

8. appears occluded

This is a good exercise to show how little we really have to go on until it actually happens.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

1 produces a "tornado"...something not everyone might call a tornado.

2 no

3 yes...that high, very rounded base sure looks familar

4 yes...looks very familar too

5 no....not sure I'd even call it a wall cloud myself

6 yes...I guess....only because it looks familar

7 no....and I wouldn't call that a wall cloud

8 maybe another "tornado" thingy

9 no....think I know that one too

10 no....looks cold

 

[Mike Parker]

Thanks again for another quiz!!

My answer is:
3,4,6,8,9 did produce.

 

[Scott Olson]

Thanks to Brian for another interactive visual challenge.

1. Yes, good sunshine and curving low level cloud structure. Looks like there is some cutting/RFD beginning to go.

2. Looks nice but is to high-based for me to go with.

3. Yes, curtains of rain are seen wrapping around the wall cloud with what could possibly be the beginning of a funnel.

4. Yes, the extreme left portion of the WC looks fairly ideal.

5. Though there does appear to be some striations among the cloud base, this has that cold outflow cloud base look to it.

6. Looks very turbulent to me but I just don't see the much for features.

7. Great storm but no tornado.

8. Yes, at first I thought this looked rather disorganized and didn't seem like a good candidate. After looking at it a while I've decided to add this one.

9. The character and definition of the clouds looks good. But I think I'll pass on this one.

10. Looks cold, thin and doesn't seem to turbulent or active.

 

[MatthewCarman]

1,2,3,4 Yes 5,6,7 NO 8 YES 9,10 NO

 

[Dean Baron]

i'm goin with 2,4,6,10.