An unusually low-based supercell for southern Colorado, this menacing storm swept across that fabulous vista between Trinidad and Trinchera, just north of the Raton and Johnson Mesas. The storm was crossing a road void whose lack of habitation was a fortunate thing for the sake of avoiding hail and wind damage. Might a multiple-vortex tornado lurk in the partly rain-wrapped wall cloud at distant middle? The strongest cloud-base rotation was during this stage, by far, in that area, and cloud elements seemed to form and move very fast, very close to (if not on) the ground. Confidence wasn’t high enough to report it as a tornado. If not tornadic, it came very close here. Regardless, the storm structure was spectacular across this wide-open landscape; I felt as if I had to wipe some dirt off my chin after the jaw dropped, in appreciation of this striking land and sky vista.
7 NNW Trinchera CO (19 Jun 20) Looking SW
37.1445, -104.0757
“Ground-Scraping” Supercell
An unusually low-based supercell for southern Colorado, this menacing storm swept across that fabulous vista between Trinidad and Trinchera, just north of the Raton and Johnson Mesas. The storm was crossing a road void whose lack of habitation was a fortunate thing for the sake of avoiding hail and wind damage. Might a multiple-vortex tornado lurk in the partly rain-wrapped wall cloud at distant middle? The strongest cloud-base rotation was during this stage, by far, in that area, and cloud elements seemed to form and move very fast, very close to (if not on) the ground. Confidence wasn’t high enough to report it as a tornado. If not tornadic, it came very close here. Regardless, the storm structure was spectacular across this wide-open landscape; I felt as if I had to wipe some dirt off my chin after the jaw dropped, in appreciation of this striking land and sky vista.
7 NNW Trinchera CO (19 Jun 20) Looking SW
37.1445, -104.0757