• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

What happened yesterday in Missouri?

Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
16
I was working and got into position to watch a tornado warned cell come through my county. While watching the cell it seemed to stop for a couple of minutes, then made a 60 degree turn from it slow Northeastdirection of travel to the right. As the storm was moving toward me I noticed non rotational clouds "zoom" up for lack of better term. these clouds came from the ground and went up to the shelf cloud that was moving toward me. It was like the storm was sucking fog from some of the valleys. The storm went on to produce a rotating wall cloud, with damage reported later. I have cell phone pics, and as soon as I can I will download them.

Thanks in advance.
 
I was working and got into position to watch a tornado warned cell come through my county. While watching the cell it seemed to stop for a couple of minutes, then made a 60 degree turn from it slow Northeastdirection of travel to the right. As the storm was moving toward me I noticed non rotational clouds "zoom" up for lack of better term. these clouds came from the ground and went up to the shelf cloud that was moving toward me. It was like the storm was sucking fog from some of the valleys. The storm went on to produce a rotating wall cloud, with damage reported later. I have cell phone pics, and as soon as I can I will download them.

Thanks in advance.

It sounds to me like the supercell was riding the boundary and made a classic right turn, which isn't uncommon when a mesocyclone strengthens as the storm ingests better lower-level flow.

As far as scud getting ingested, I would assume you were seeing the supercell ingesting warmer air from the SSE in the form of inflow.
 
This may be, and I was thrown off by the hills. I thought it might of had something to do with the sudden change of temp. its hard to explain and i will upload photos when i complete my move tomorrow.
 
Travis,

You mention a couple of things in your message I wanted to comment on. First you mentioned a "shelf cloud" moving towards you. Second you mentioned a change in temp.

From your description I assume that as the storm approached sfc winds shifted towards you, and dropped in temp. Thus you were in outflow/forward flank downdraft. As the gust front moves into more unstable air, parcels can certainly be lifted and condensed into the shelf.

Obviously the reverse is true if you were in the storm's inflow region, where parcels are condensed while being lifted into the storm's updraft. Perhaps then, the "shelf" you saw was a wall/collar cloud. Sfc winds might have shifted to your back, relative to the storm, and gotten warmer.

One of the first things I ask myself when I get out of my car to look at a storm is from what direction are the winds coming.

Tim Balassie (KC9JIB)
Kane Co, IL
 
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