June 5th Eastern Colorado Tornadoes

June 5th kept us close to home. A warm front draped over east central Colorado would become the focus for intense supercell storm development by late afternoon. It provided a differential heating boundary where storms erupted on the south side of it and interacted with the strong low level shear on the boundary. We sat between Anton and Cope and watched as a strongly tornadic supercell anchored at that point and produced multiple tornadoes. All in all we counted 4 confirmed tornadoes. The storm was a tad messy, and thus photos from the day clearly show the rain/hail as we took each shot. A couple of the tornadoes appeared to be strong, but fortunately only destroyed a barn in the wide open eastern Colorado plains. Tour 5 and Photo Tour #2 enjoyed the event as both were in great position to watch the entire tornadic cycle of the supercell.

May 23rd Southeast Colorado Supercell and Tornado

High CAPE, good shear and lift along a boundary would provide the focus for severe storm development on May 23rd. We arrived south of Lamar early afternoon as storms formed quickly, and became severe. An anchored supercell southwest of Lamar did everything it could to be the storm of the day (which is was). Constant new cell development on its flank resulted in the storm mode being messy. By mid afternoon, though, it managed to pull off the anchored spot and move northeast. The storm had incredible structure, HUGE hail and finally produced a weak tornado. Structure was the main thing this day and it certainly did not disappoint!

April 11th Southwest Kansas Tornado Warned Supercell

We got to chase close to home on April 11th, with storms developing in southeast Colorado off the Raton Mesa. As they moved east into southwest Kansas, deeper moisture and increasing instability resulted in an intense supercell forming which produced baseball sized hail and had incredible inflow winds. It came close to producing a tornado as well before diminishing after dark.

May 21, 2014 – Denver, Colorado Tornadic Supercell

The second of two super days in eastern Colorado! May 21st had much better moisture and shear than the day before did, while the Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch and warned of potential strong tornadoes in the area. We started the day home, a rarity for us, and didn’t have to go far. By early afternoon a cluster of storms formed over Denver, with the easternmost storm intercepting the best parcel of air and becoming a significant supercell. Just to the east of DIA, we sat looking down the notch of this beast as it spun wildly. It produced a couple funnels and what we are sure was a partially rain wrapped tornado that was only visible from the northeast looking southwest. Several other chasers saw what we did and there was a period of a few minutes where multiple vortices were spinning on the ground! We stayed with the storm as it cycled and moved eastward into more stable air. It slowly weakened at that point, never being what it was initially. A fun chase day, close to home and the tour was able to stay in the same HAIL BEATEN hotel that night. Piles of hail a couple feet deep were all around!

June 23rd Northeast Colorado Tornado Warned Supercell

June 23rd featured decent shear, but again, low dewpoints. High based storms developed east of Denver and intensified, becoming severe, as they moved east into better moisture. One storm exhibited supercellular features and even became tornado warned, producing a decent funnel. structure was reasonably pretty and with the fresh wheat fields, was a nice treat.

June 4th Southeast Colorado Supercell

I wasn’t expecting much this day due to poor moisture and not ideal shear. However, the upslope flow into the higher terrain of southeast Colorado and the western Oklahoma panhandle proved again to be sufficient for storm generation. One very pretty lpish supercell formed north of Boise City, OK/south of Campo, CO and gave us a very nice show. Pretty hard chasing with the passing of our good friend Tim Samaras, his son Paul and Carl Young. Very cool in the 3rd photo where the setting sun cast THREE light beams over us. Some is watching from above.

April 8th Eastern Colorado Supercell and Weak Tornado

April 8th took me to the I-70 corridor near Flagler and then northeast to north of Burlington, Colorado. A high based supercell formed in a high shear low CAPE environment and struggled as it moved northeast, often coming close to dissipating before restrengthening again. Storm structure was decent and eventually the storm produced a brief, weak tornado north of Burlington.

Late July Colorado Lightning

June 7th Palmer Divide Tornadic Supercell

June 7th was a tough choice. We agonized between the Platte river valley north of Chugwater or the Palmer Divide. Since we started in Denver, we chose the Palmer Divide. Of course, by mid afternoon a VERY nice tornado and supercell occurred in the northern target, which made us even more ill. Finally towers and eventual storms went up on the Palmer just southwest of Deer Trail. This storm intensified and right turned moving due south. It did produce several tornadoes, most of which were brief or rain wrapped (as seen below!). It also produced softball sized hail and intense lightning.

June 6th Elizabeth, CO Tornadic Supercell

June 6th was an interesting day. I didn’t feel all the ingredients were present to the extend needed for strong supercells. Moisture was a bit marginal with temp/dew point spreads near 25 degrees. By late afternoon, the Palmer Divide lit up. An intense supercell eventually formed northeast of Elizabeth. This storm was nearly anchored in the upslope flow and produced copious amounts of hail to baseball size and nearly a half foot of rain. As it back built to the southwest, just northeast of Elizabeth it produced a substantial cone/elephant trunk tornado that was on the ground for 10 minutes. Fun storm to watch and even better when the tornado stays in open terrain and does not cause much damage.

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