Mesocyclone

[denverpilot]

@denverpilot I never figured Denver for that kind of weather. Oklahoma or Kansas maybe, but not Denver.

Ahhh. It’s where it starts and then rolls east.

Much of it misses Denver west of I-25 toward the mountains. They’re a bit of a shield for westerly weather.

But the downslope winds and the mixing caused by the big rocks to the west often are part of the trigger for afternoon building when the temp/dewpoint and stability numbers are right.

Once you get out to true eastern CO, you’re into the Great Plains and the storms hammer those folks (Fort Morgan, Sterling, etc) and continue building as they roll east into Nebraska and Kansas long into the night.

Nothing quite like the setup for severe storms they have in Oklahoma though. That stuff gets with it down there. NSSL is parked in the right place for sure.

That night thirnderstorm thing weirded me out when I first spent time further east. Around here it’s so dry that after the storms pop, they’ve sucked all the moisture up and moved it on toward NE and KS and once the sun sets and afternoon heating ends, for most conditions the severe weather is over for the day. Afternoon blow ups, it rolls east, and it’s done.

Out there those things just get bigger and bigger and keep feeding themselves on new moisture and instability and keep rolling through all night long. That... is pretty rare here. We’ll get isolated nastiness at midnight or later but not too often a large line of cells that just keeps marching through after dark. If we get that, it’s usually triggered by an upper level wave moving through.

 

[labbadabba]

Yeah, I get to tangle with that when I fly to KSLN at 6 am

 

[labbadabba]

Also, did your robot vacuum make it thru okay?

 

[denverpilot]

Yeah, so maybe it's time to update your handle to KansasPilot.

LOL. It’s still a LOOOONG way east of here.

I’m center middle on the left side. Definitely well southeast of downtown Denver but still way closer to that than Kansas.

See “Goodland” on this radar map?

That’s Kansas way over there.

The KGLD airport is really deserted at night. I’ve peed on the grass between the FBO hangar and the crop dusting hangar.

During the day the restaurant has homemade pies.

 

[gkainz]

I picked a good day to work from home yesterday... oh wait, I pick almost every day to work from home! Do not like the drive from here to almost Parker - not one bit. We also got the toe nader warning but after doing a quick look outside, decided "Nope. Missed it by < --- THAT ---> much". But yeah, definitely blossomed as things rolled ENE from here.

 

[BrianNC]

I picked a good day to work from home yesterday... oh wait, I pick almost every day to work from home!

A bad day at home is better than a good day at work.

 

[Clip4]

Hypothetically speaking, if I decided to fly into that and see what’s going on in there, could I legally log it?

Asking for a buddy of mine.

Thanks

You might want to log it first.

 

[Zeldman]

We’ve been behind on precip so the rain fall out of these might save my prairie grass before it dries up and blows away.

Same here in my part of NM. We are so far behind on rain that I do not even have weeds growing in my yard. We had a brief shower that hit the ground the other day but not enough to get the weeds growing.

We get a lot of showers, but the moisture is not making it to the ground before it evaporates. Sort of like living under a giant swamp cooler.....

 

[azure]

Lincoln, NH had a tornado yesterday! i know its not your backyard, but thats pretty close!

In the small world department, I hiked up Mt. Moosilauke today and happened to run into someone on the summit that lives in Lincoln. We got to talking about tornadoes in our respective areas, and she agreed that they're a once in a decade thing in that part of NH too.

Just a data point...

 

[JCranford]

Naaa, better to fly UNDER that thing. Youll never got OVER it!

 

[Kansas Flyer]

Same here in my part of NM. We are so far behind on rain that I do not even have weeds growing in my yard. We had a brief shower that hit the ground the other day but not enough to get the weeds growing.

We get a lot of showers, but the moisture is not making it to the ground before it evaporates. Sort of like living under a giant swamp cooler.....

Its dry as hell here too. We had practically nothing all winter and other than one fairly wet week last month spring/summer hasn't been much better. I've seen a bunch of young trees that didn't make it.

 

[Zeldman]

Its dry as hell here too.

I have cut all the dead prairie grass on my property. One spark and everything will go up in smoke, and the wind will blow that away leaving me with nothing.

I am wanting to plant some trees on the new property, but not this summer.

Hope you guys get some good rain soon. Must be hard on the farmers.

 

[denverpilot]

I have cut all the dead prairie grass on my property. One spark and everything will go up in smoke, and the wind will blow that away leaving me with nothing.

I am wanting to plant some trees on the new property, but not this summer.

Hope you guys get some good rain soon. Must be hard on the farmers.

That’s one of the reasons I mowed around the house, and then left the majority alone... defensible space, but didn’t want to kill it all.

We did finally get some rain, though, couple of days ago, which should help it survive.

Redneck rain gauges... the tray under the BBQ grill, and the front end bucket on the tractor, both had standing water in them.

 

[Zeldman]

Redneck rain gauges... the tray under the BBQ grill, and the front end bucket on the tractor, both had standing water in them.

I have learned to point the bucket down and let it sit on the leading edge. I used to lay it flat, until I picked it up once and there was a big ol' rattle snake snoozing underneath.... It didn't bother me because I was in the drivers seat, but it sure bothered my buddy next to the bucket..!!

 

[Hank S]

That night thirnderstorm thing weirded me out when I first spent time further east. Around here it’s so dry that after the storms pop, they’ve sucked all the moisture up and moved it on toward NE and KS and once the sun sets and afternoon heating ends, for most conditions the severe weather is over for the day. Afternoon blow ups, it rolls east, and it’s done.

Out there those things just get bigger and bigger and keep feeding themselves on new moisture and instability and keep rolling through all night long .... not too often a large line of cells that just keeps marching through after dark.

Yeah, that's how it works here, sucking moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and feeding all day and all night. Had a bad one about 4:30 today, with straight wind warnings (up to 60mph).