A tail cloud, clear slot and ragged area of rotation marked the final wall cloud of the last in series of supercells we would intercept on this day. The old, deeply occluded mesocyclone responsible for this wall cloud seemed to be running on fumes, with cool air in its inflow region. Among other events of years past, we learned from a photogenic tornado a couple of hours before not to dismiss elderly storm circulations in this West Texas supercell environment. This was the last gasp for this storm, however, for the old mesocyclone and its wall cloud soon faded away like the daylight itself, leaving only the diffuse and retreating ghost of a storm that once exerted its will over the land and sky of West Texas.
1 ENE Rotan TX (12 Jun 5) Looking N
32.8561, -100.446Last-Gasp Circulation
A tail cloud, clear slot and ragged area of rotation marked the final wall cloud of the last in series of supercells we would intercept on this day. The old, deeply occluded mesocyclone responsible for this wall cloud seemed to be running on fumes, with cool air in its inflow region. Among other events of years past, we learned from a photogenic tornado a couple of hours before not to dismiss elderly storm circulations in this West Texas supercell environment. This was the last gasp for this storm, however, for the old mesocyclone and its wall cloud soon faded away like the daylight itself, leaving only the diffuse and retreating ghost of a storm that once exerted its will over the land and sky of West Texas.
1 ENE Rotan TX (12 Jun 5) Looking N
32.8561, -100.446