SkyPix

A digital photographic storybook of clouds, weather and water by Roger Edwards.

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Brief Subvortex

2023-07-14 By Roger Edwards

Brief Subvortex

For once, I was in optimal position to see such a process briefly become tornadic before being undercut.  This was one of a handful of successive tornadic subvortex spinups under the area of rapid rotation at lower middle, described reasonably well by a different spotter as a short-lived, weak multivortex.  [The faint wisp of another subvortex barely lingers just to the left of the obvious column.]  The foreground scud was racing left to right, the back of the dark mass behind, right to left, with temporarily intense convergence and rotation at cloud base.  Within 2 minutes at most, this action area got plowed under by outflow, thanks to a separate supercell behind this one that had become outflow-dominant and accelerated eastward.  A series of gustnadoes (shallow, non-tornadic whirlwinds common to outflows) commenced in their combined rear-flank downdraft’s outflow surge, one of which I nearly penetrated while escaping back south.

4 N Bethune CO (30 Jun 23) Looking WNW
39.3584, -102.4277

RADAR

Filed Under: Tornadoes Tagged With: Bethune, clouds, Colorado, convection, Great Plains, landscapes, storms, supercells, thunderstorms, tornado, weather

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About

Welcome to SkyPix, an online photo book of clouds, weather and water by Roger Edwards. As in a printed coffee-table book, every image has its own page with a unique story. After all, meaningful photography is much more than just picture-taking; it is visually rendering a moment in place and time from a perspective like none other. As a scientist and an artist, I hope my deep passion for the power and splendor of our skies and waters shines through in these pages. If you are a cloud and weather aficionado, outdoor enthusiast, outdoor or nature photographer, art lover, or anyone who craves learning, enjoy...

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Further images from this photographer may be found at:
Roger Edwards Image of the Week
Roger Edwards Digital Galleries
Storms Observed Chase BLOG

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