Various and Sundry Master Class Supercells - 2004

Master Class Vital Statistics:

Tour leaders: David Gold and Bill Gargan

Day 1 - June 14; Day 10 - June 23.

Number of chase days on which supercells were observed: 6

Chase days: June 14-18; June 20-21.

Annual Master Class picnic day: June 23.

Number of tornadoes witnessed: 3; amount of meteorology learned: LOTS.

Synopsis: the period from June 14 - June 21 was convectively active but relatively "tornado-poor" due to the fact that deep tropical moisture and strong mid-latitude middle and upper-tropospheric westerly winds were out of phase for most of this period, except in small regions for short periods of time. Below is a sampling of images from this period. The most significant severe storms of the period occurred on June 20 and 21 and these events will be featured on separate web pages to be posted soon.

Master Class Tour route:

Our route for the period June 14 - June 21 is shown in blue highlighting. The pale green sections are manually reconstructed.

Video Captures

The first day of the Master Class tour (June 14) we get our first supercell - a high-based striated LP storm in central Kansas.	Another view of the June 14 Abilene, KS supercell (taken by customer Gavin C.)	The next day we find ourselves in eastern South Dakota where we watched an HP supercell evolve west of Brookings. Image again courtesy of Gavin C.	Another image of the menacing shelf cloud at the base of the June 15 Brookings, SD storm.
June 16 shelf cloud bears down on us just west of Garden City, KS. We made the drive from Sioux Falls, SD to Garden City in one day - not bad!	June 17 LP barberpole storm just southwest of Pueblo, CO.	Yet another sculpted non-tornadic supercell about 30 miles west of Clayton, NM along Hwy 56 on June 18.	Another view of the June 18 NM storm.
Striated supercell that developed at the tail end of a squall line south-southeast of La Junta, CO on June 20.	Supercell updraft at the initial stages of a large weakly tornadic supercell on June 21 that would produce 10's of millions of dollars of damage on the west side of Amarillo due to 4-5" diameter hail driven by 80-90 mph winds.	The Amarillo supercell as it munches across the west side of town, looking north.	The original Amarillo supercell on the caprock west of Wayside much later. The staccato CG lightning was intense.
One of the very weak tornadoes produced by the June 21 Amarillo storm near Bushland.	Enhanced contrast image of a tornado that formed about 6 miles south-southeast of Las Animas on June 20.	Large cone-shaped cloud possibly in contact with ground to our west southwest of Calhan, CO on June 20. This formation was noted within a strongly-rotating low-level mesoscyclone, prompting us to believe that this was a tornado.