What was i seeing here??? (its been bugging me all chase season)

[JustinPhillips]

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.186591444760850.49994.185928731493788&type=1

the link is to my facebook album of a storm i chased in central wisconsin back on july 5th, the pics im wondering about are 35 through 40, the entire album is in order so you may want to look through some of the pics before 35 too, to get a better picture. i also have video around i could try to find later. while i consider my self a fairly well knowledged chaser, ive never seen a feature like that before and havent had much luck researching, it had weak rotation in it, but the entire feature itself never rotated, its been bugging me all chase season lol. this storm was tornado warned during this time but ive been on many tornadic storms, this one was weird in every single way.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Nice shots. This feature has been informally dubbed as "whale's teeth." You're probably familiar with the "whale's mouth," which forms behind a thunderstorm's gust front. On the leading edge of the gust front, where the cold outflow is forcing the warm inflow up and over the outflow, a shelf cloud forms. The ragged edge of that shelf creates the teeth of the whale's mouth. They're typically non-tornadic just as a shelf cloud is, but they can mark an area where powerful straight line winds are fanning out under the storm. Gustnadoes are also common under features like this. Tornadoes are not out of the question, though, so be on the look out for areas of tight rotation in the storm's base.

 

[ahaberlie]

Cool shots, what Skip said was what I initially thought and it reminded me of this shot that I took in Wisconsin.

 

[JustinPhillips]

Thanks Skip!!!!! I figured it had something to do with being under the whales mouth, but whales teeth is a new one for me, pretty sure i havent heard that before. Usually stay out ahead of gust fronts too which is why i havent seen this more often, this one wasnt really all that windy so i stayed under it, the rotation was a pretty good ways off but i def had an eye on it at all times. I've seen alot of wisconsin storms but this one was truely unique for me. Also, ahaberlie, thats a sick shot!!!! reminds me of the Janesville area a few years back. Thanks for the replies, its seriosuly been bugging me all season lol.