May 24 Summary
Storm Reports
Pictures
We left Burlington, CO late this morning for Yuma, CO for lunch and data reassessment. Outflow boundary from early morning MCS was to our south, while mid level convection was ongoing at midday just south of the NE/CO border. Similar to Monday, we expected tornado prospects to be slim, but thought supercells might be a little more prevalent before storm mergers/MCS development. Tornado watch issued by early afternoon for NE CO as we headed west out of Yuma. With storms developing all around us to the west/northwest, we would ultimately watch a tornado warned cell northwest of Otis, CO for almost an hour. Much as was the case on Monday, storms would exhibit supercell-type characteristics for a period of time before becoming outflow dominant in relatively short order.
Some of the highlights... watching the developing shelf/arcus structure (e.g. Otis/Yuma/Eckley corridor) was a treat. We were nearly struck by a sizeable tree limb (outflow) as we went through the east side of Otis (tornado sirens blaring). Was like slow motion... could see it coming all the way and was able to avoid it as it landed in the road ahead of us. We got out ahead of the of the clustering storms for a while, with good vantage (see pics) of the developing shelf.
A while later as we (and the merging clusters) headed eastward, we'd again be "smacked" by the outlfow while in extreme northwest KS heading southward on KS Hwy 27 (~5 NW St. Francis), including driving through 2 or 3 rather large/well-organized gustnadoes! This was certainly an "interesting" experience as our car got rocked with near zero visibility each time. As we continued southward through/south of Goodland, we kept an eye on "tail end Charlie" of the developing MCS in vicinity of Cheyenne Well, CO area. With plans to stay in Lamar, CO for Wednesday, we headed west out of Tribune, KS for the aforementioned storms. NWS Pueblo would soon issue a tornado warning from the storms north of Lamar shortly thereafter. Given little or no road options and dwindling sunlight, we stayed sufficiently east/southeast and headed southward to Holly, CO. Needing to get west to Lamar at some pint, we decided to punch the now severe-warned merged linear complex with developing/surging outflow. In short, we got "smacked" as we reached Grenada, CO. Given impossible driving conditions in driving rain/small hail and 50+ mph winds, we sought shelter under a shed in town. An amazing amount of rain in short order -- can only speculate on rates at our location, but we can relate to 3.70 inch/20 minutes rates that had been reported earlier per Pueblo Flash Flood Warning statement. In addition to many small branches down in town, we did see a larger (4 inch?) limb down in the road as we exited Grenada.
Staying in Lamar, CO tonight.
Pictures
We left Burlington, CO late this morning for Yuma, CO for lunch and data reassessment. Outflow boundary from early morning MCS was to our south, while mid level convection was ongoing at midday just south of the NE/CO border. Similar to Monday, we expected tornado prospects to be slim, but thought supercells might be a little more prevalent before storm mergers/MCS development. Tornado watch issued by early afternoon for NE CO as we headed west out of Yuma. With storms developing all around us to the west/northwest, we would ultimately watch a tornado warned cell northwest of Otis, CO for almost an hour. Much as was the case on Monday, storms would exhibit supercell-type characteristics for a period of time before becoming outflow dominant in relatively short order.
Some of the highlights... watching the developing shelf/arcus structure (e.g. Otis/Yuma/Eckley corridor) was a treat. We were nearly struck by a sizeable tree limb (outflow) as we went through the east side of Otis (tornado sirens blaring). Was like slow motion... could see it coming all the way and was able to avoid it as it landed in the road ahead of us. We got out ahead of the of the clustering storms for a while, with good vantage (see pics) of the developing shelf.
A while later as we (and the merging clusters) headed eastward, we'd again be "smacked" by the outlfow while in extreme northwest KS heading southward on KS Hwy 27 (~5 NW St. Francis), including driving through 2 or 3 rather large/well-organized gustnadoes! This was certainly an "interesting" experience as our car got rocked with near zero visibility each time. As we continued southward through/south of Goodland, we kept an eye on "tail end Charlie" of the developing MCS in vicinity of Cheyenne Well, CO area. With plans to stay in Lamar, CO for Wednesday, we headed west out of Tribune, KS for the aforementioned storms. NWS Pueblo would soon issue a tornado warning from the storms north of Lamar shortly thereafter. Given little or no road options and dwindling sunlight, we stayed sufficiently east/southeast and headed southward to Holly, CO. Needing to get west to Lamar at some pint, we decided to punch the now severe-warned merged linear complex with developing/surging outflow. In short, we got "smacked" as we reached Grenada, CO. Given impossible driving conditions in driving rain/small hail and 50+ mph winds, we sought shelter under a shed in town. An amazing amount of rain in short order -- can only speculate on rates at our location, but we can relate to 3.70 inch/20 minutes rates that had been reported earlier per Pueblo Flash Flood Warning statement. In addition to many small branches down in town, we did see a larger (4 inch?) limb down in the road as we exited Grenada.
Staying in Lamar, CO tonight.
posted by Jared Guyer at 2:08 AM
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