May, 31 2006 Eastern, CO

[Wxchaser420]

Here are some pictures and a brief account of my May, 31 chase...One of many good chases i was on during 2006.
Ok, this is when the 2006 year really began to take off for me. It was a slight risk day, and there was a severe t-storm watch out for eastern CO, and there was some serious 40kt shear, coupled with some ok instability...This storm initially began as a linear system but as it moved east to better moisture and better shear, it got organized into an HP supercell. i had followed it* past strausberg. It looked pretty hairy from the rear...



I kept going east on 70 into the rear of the storm...I was going to go through the core of the storm and attempt to get ahead. It proved a worrisome experience...




Hail up tp quarter size was accumulating up to 6 inches deep on the highway and we were hydroplaning on the hail struggling to get ahead of the storm. Eventually, we got ahead of the storm...And it was looking good. There was a grip chasers around too.




You can see the look of the hail core, and the updraft...Pretty heavy s#it...






Eventually, the storm began looking really good...Just look at the colors on this thing! I really enjoyed being on the chase...And the really cool thing was seeing the DOW. It was out scanning the storm. It was heavy, thats all i can say.



The storm really began to get some rotation, and a big ass tornado began to form. It never touched down, but it almost got really serious...It was missing alot of spin though.








Then came the downdraft...And let me tell you...It got a little windy.






Outflow winds were pushing 70...



Heres a BW enhanced version of the tornado...You can clearly see a tube.


Not a bad day at all, id say

Thanks for sharing! That looks like an interesting chase account, to say the least. :D To bad you did not get any tornado shots through. The front range is known for hailers and it does look like you got a good bit of hail!

Great pics!

[Josh Richardson]

Thank you for the post of your pics, we are always glad to see fellow chasers join here and contribute their chase accounts.

Thank you for the post of your pics, we are always glad to see fellow chasers join here and contribute their chase accounts.[/b]

Indeed it is so.. That was a really cool account man. I am looking foward to when I am able to do that. I am actually suprised the front range is a good place for tornadoes. Could someone explain why they are? I understand why this area supports hailers but not tornados. Thanks!

[Wxchaser420]

Well, there are a few reasons why...Eastern CO is one of the most tornado populus places in the world...That and southern FL...We get some good mesoscale features like the denver cyclone, which is when the low-level winds blow to the west, while the upper-level winds blow to the east..There are also converging out-flow boundarys...those are the majority of the situations.* Thats when we get the non-supercell torns...similar to the aug, 18 situation.* Aside from that...eastern, CO is a major site for cyclo-genesis for large synoptic cyclones.* The strong veering wind profiles, and strong windshear cause the storms to get supercelluar really quickly.* We get alot of LP storms due to our height above sea level, and moisture is usually our limiting factor...

[sportsandweatherfreak]

thanks for coming here to post your chase stories and pics* O0
those are some pretty cool pics espically the sixth picture....the cloud is amazing
please continue to post your chase stories and pics because they are very intresting to read* O0

Nice pictures. Looks like you had a good chase and found some nice storms.