2005 JUNE 2: LIMON, COLORADO MOTHERSHIP

2005 JUNE 2: LIMON, COLORADO MOTHERSHIP

This was a tough forecast. Eric Nguyen, Dave Fick, and I woke in Garden City and headed for Sheridan Lake, CO, hoping for storms to fire on the higher ground and move into better theta-e air as the midlevel flow improved. But in the back of our minds we knew that not having a real focus for initiation could be a problem, and the cap was worrisome. Our cu field began to dissipate and the first Denver-area supercell fired. When storms began near Limon, we raced north and caught the Limon cell as it was entering the city. We heard reports of a tornado earlier and softball hail on the highway. As the storm came into view, we knew we were on something special.

This supercell was absolutely stunning. It outclassed the GRI mothership from the 10th and I would have never imagined seeing two storms of that caliber within four weeks. A deeply striated and vigorously rotating storm, it was so incredible that one member of our group jumped back on Interstate 70 in order to race AWAY from it to get a Chris Kridler-style distance shot a la May 29, 2001.

Dave has video of a white cone tornado which I didn't see since we all separated at several points during the chase. He is attempting to document where and when, but this is clearly a small tornado Dave captured while looking into the elusive notch.

We ate dinner in Kit Carson and emerged to find a small LP spitting CGs and spinning underneath a deeply starry sky. We hurried away from the city lights to shoot nighttime long-exposures of this amazing little barber pole updraft. Had it been daylight, this storm might have outdone the Limon storm from earlier. What incredible Colorado structure. I'm anxious to sift my images and post a few to the blog, but it's time for bed.

Cyclone Road