Colorado Chase May 17, 2011

I vowed this year to chase every day I had off in which there was even a remote chance for a tornado. Well, it was pretty remote today; I thought SPC's 2% threat was overkill, but amazingly a couple tornado warned storms materialized by late afternoon. Unfortunately I stayed too far south early on and by the time I realized the southern cells werent going to produce, it was a it late to catch the warned ones to the north, and missed a tornado that was apparently on the ground for 5 minutes according to the Storm Report. So, my tornado drought continues, but no regrets since the storms were magnificent tonight. Very electric and an enormous amount of hail--my chase ended when I ran into drifts of hail a foot deep on Interstate 70--had to wait for snow plows to clear the highway--it was nuts! Here's a few highlites, mostly at sunset when the storms were spectacular.

Not much CAPE today, but the cumulus sure boiled!

Boiling Cu

Not much CAPE today, but the cumulus sure boiled! Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

Behind the Curtain

Behind the Curtain

Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

Line of storms move to the norhteast

Backside

Line of storms move to the norhteast. Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

Moderate Instability

Moderate Instability

Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

Couldnt get too far on these muddy farm roads, but the colors were amazing in the distant storms at sunset!

Seibert Sunset

Couldnt get too far on these muddy farm roads, but the colors were amazing in the distant storms at sunset! Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

View out my car window of I-70 with drifts of hail!

Hellacious Hail

View out my car window of I-70 with drifts of hail! Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

Amazing mammatus display at sunset, with distant storm still dropping streaks of hail.

Apocalypse

Amazing mammatus display at sunset, with distant storm still dropping streaks of hail. Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

Not sure why all these corn cobs were lying in the field, but it sure was an amazing sight with the distant supercell thunderstorm...

Devestation

Not sure why all these corn cobs were lying in the field, but it sure was an amazing sight with the distant supercell thunderstorm at sunset! Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.

See Devestation in B&W!

Devestation

See Devestation in B&W! Photo © copyright by Stan Rose.