Was This A Wall Cloud, Or Something Else ?

[Steve Frederick]

I'd call myself an intermediate when it comes the storm chasing. Had my 1st successful chase in June 2016
The following vid-caps are from video I took Sunday July 9th 2017, west of Le Sueur Minnesota, from approximately 7:30 to 8:30 PM

A fellow storm chaser told me that it was a shelf cloud, I disagree.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Steve, there are a few things I know. It is very often impossible to discern what, exactly, you saw based on individual vidcaps, even in a series. Having trees obscure your view makes it even worse. It is often not even possible to discern when viewing the video itself, even on a big-screen TV! Early in my career, that sort of thing would drive me crazy. That said, the object in the fourth picture looks like a tornado to me, complete with an RFD, but I'm not sure. I can tell you that I have literally dozens of my own pics and vidcaps on this computer that look like tornadoes that weren't, or I'm still not sure years later. Here's one example:



I shot this in 1999. I used to have the parent vid posted on YouTube, and people commented that it was not a tornado. The storm was certainly rotating, but the rotation on "the ground" was not vigorous, and there was never any flying debris visible. Was it a tornado? I couldn't care less anymore.

 

[Steve Frederick]

Thanks for the reply Bob. I should have noted that all of the vid-caps are of the same cell.
What amazed me more than anything else, was how fast this cell erupted.

I saw the report from the NWS today, stating that there was only 2 confirmed touchdowns Sunday, both later in the evening,
& far south of this storm. That's the main reason I posted here.

Whatever it was, In was incredible & I'm very happy with the footage I got.
Only wish I had an HD camera. Next year I will.

Thanks again

 

[Steve Frederick]

"That said, the object in the fourth picture looks like a tornado to me, complete with an RFD, but I'm not sure"

I figured out how to reformat the video & upload to YouTube

 

[Bob Schafer]

I watched the video. I don't think there's any tornado in your video. So sorry, but that's stormchasing in a nutshell. If you go out and chase 10,000 storms in the next 20 years you'll see about 2000 storms like that one that were soooooooo close to dropping a tornado but didn't, and about 200 actual tornadoes. Plus or minus.

 

[Steve Frederick]

[QUOTE I don't think there's any tornado in your video. So sorry, but that's stormchasing in a nutshell [/QUOTE]

That's no problem. I respect your opinion & appreciate the reply.
But I still have one question & it will be my last. Trust Me
Did you come to that conclusion because..........

A: What's shown in the video from 3.00 to 4.02, isn't even a wall/funnel cloud.

B: What's shown in the video from 3.00 to 4.02 does look like a wall/funnel cloud, complete with RFD, but since the tree's block the
lower 1/3 of it, there's no visual proof that it ever touched the ground, & therefore cannot be ruled a tornado.

 

[Randy Jennings]

You have a wall cloud for sure (that is defiantly not a shelf cloud). Did you ever get a funnel cloud or tornado is the question. My gut says no to both, but between the trees blocking the view in the most of the video and the possibility of a invisible condensation funnel, I don't think one could say for sure. What I can say is I didn't see dust or debris under it - so I can't confirm a tornado. I've had things I know where tornados, but you can't tell on my video. In one of those cases my chase partner took several still photos and made them into an animated gif and you could tell that dust was present and you could discern the rotation. But it is a very nice wall cloud and I love the striations in the storm.

 

[Rick Schmidt]

Regarding funnels and tornadoes---like the NWS says---"If it doesn't spin, don't turn it in."

 

[Steve Frederick]

I re-upped the video. Basically the same, except I added a few captions.
Sure wish I had an HD camera. Going to start researching Monday.

 

[Bob Schafer]

That's no problem. I respect your opinion & appreciate the reply.
But I still have one question & it will be my last. Trust Me
Did you come to that conclusion because..........

A: What's shown in the video from 3.00 to 4.02, isn't even a wall/funnel cloud.

B: What's shown in the video from 3.00 to 4.02 does look like a wall/funnel cloud, complete with RFD, but since the tree's block the
lower 1/3 of it, there's no visual proof that it ever touched the ground, & therefore cannot be ruled a tornado.

It's because I don't see strong enough rotation between 3:00 and 4:02 to believe that there is any tornado. It's a wall cloud, sure enough, but probably nothing more. PROBABLY.