{"id":1427,"date":"2021-05-23T23:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-23T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/?p=1427"},"modified":"2026-01-18T04:02:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:02:31","slug":"23-may-2021-tornado-structure-eastern-colorado-to-northwest-kansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/2021\/05\/23\/23-may-2021-tornado-structure-eastern-colorado-to-northwest-kansas\/","title":{"rendered":"23 May 2021 | Eastern Colorado to northwest Kansas | Tornado & Structure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 23rd started off with a good rest and freshening up in Wray, Colorado. I headed west toward Limon to catch the first in a couple rounds of anticipated storms that day. I was running late though and approaching Limon just as the first tornado warned storm of the day was sweeping past on its way north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Heading west on I-70 through the growing cumulus field toward the first storm of the day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I considered flanking the storm northward on Route 71, but was concerned that positioning for the notch could wind up running me off into untested roads and that hanging south could leave me gazing mushwise into the back of the storm and never able to cut back ahead. So I headed east to Genoa and took County Road 31 north in hopes of using that as my flanking route. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Regaining northbound progress on the lead cell about 9 miles to the west at this point. 1955Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The road was great. Until it wasn\u2019t. About 13 miles north, I stopped short to see a couple chasers delicately trying to turn their vehicles around on the slick surface of a portion of the road that had seen a lot of recent rain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Questionable road conditions 13 miles north of Genoa. 2000Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I tried another option on CR3S to get east then get back north but that wound up sketchy too and figured at that point I was probably not going to keep pace or catch up with that lead cell. Looking back at the storm\u2019s path, slow movement and other chaser angles, I could have used Route 71 to keep with it, but didn\u2019t know at the time it wouldn\u2019t press eastward more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quaint windmilled farmyness on CR3S. 2017Z\u20132019Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bountifully structured homestead on CR3S. 2026Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I set myself back up on the less messy legs to the west of CR31 and watched for new development south of the original storm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watching development to the west, east and south from around CR3T & CR31. 2033Z\u20132057Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a while, I cruised around on CR3N, 28 and 3R watching the back building line dress up the wind turbine fields. The wind pressing into the boundary and forcing up the storms was fierce and I had to be careful every time I opened car door to be sure it didn\u2019t get ripped out of my hands or crash into some part of me or my gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Giant turbines and green fields brightly lit against the dark line. 2113Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Various turbine & storm views along the way. 2115Z\u20132140Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Getting more detail as the line edged closer. 2130Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Some organization taking shape in part of the line. 2143Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around this time, as the boundary and line of storms continued advancing slowly eastward, a new batch of cells were popping to the south and a bit east of the boundary. So I cruised south to get back to I-70 to hedge bets on both of them and reposition faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking south from CR31 at the tail end of the current line of storms on the right and new convection displaced a bit eastward on the left. 2154Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I got down to Genoa, a new area of organization nudged into the line. I watched it and grabbed some shots, but as expected nothing materialized as it filled in with precipitation and moved off to the north. I should have taken this as a hint of more serious opportunities in the making with the tail end of that line. But at the time, I figured I was still mostly in landscape & moody sky mode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another attempt at organization toward the end of the line from Genoa. 2201Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I hustled east to Flagler to gain some ground and be ready for developments to the south. I set up about a mile south on CR5 and watched ongoing development and crepuscular rays drifting across the bubbling towers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tail end of convection on the boundary as crepuscular rays filter across. Funnel, unnoticed at the time, just barely visible just left of center. 2241Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At 2241Z, I was just beginning to drive off for another vantage, when the tip of a funnel caught my eye. I quickly pulled back into my spot, grabbed the still and video cameras and hopped out to capture it before it disappeared. The wind was still fighting me every step of the way. As soon as I released grip on my tripod mounted video camera to fire off a couple still shots, it got toppled. I hadn\u2019t extended the legs yet and so it didn\u2019t fall far, but still a few anxious seconds being sure nothing was damaged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quick first shots of the funnel from the car and then another as my video camera was toppling over. 2242Z and 2243Z.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After extending the legs and then bracing it against my body, I got the video started and went back to alternating between stills and re-framing video. Meanwhile, the funnel had thickened up and had my hopes up that it might fully condense. It never took things that far, but was a gorgeous sight as it drifted into dappled sunlight and glowed brilliantly from behind. It showed off for about six minutes before rain started to fall and I jumped back into the car. It went on for another couple minutes before receding as that notch in the line continued northward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Backlit funnel. 2248Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Curling funnel as rain starts to fly. 2249Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Funnel receding. 2250Z and 2251Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I filed a spotter report for a funnel with no ground contact visible from my vantage due to poor contrast and intervening terrain. Later on however, a video surfaced on Twitter from Paul Smith\/@PaulMSmithPhoto showing ground circulation from his vantage in Arriba. (https:\/\/twitter.com\/paulmsmithphoto\/status\/1397038858265579521<\/a>) I went back to my footage and stills with strong contrast edits and found frames that showed the dust plume at 22:45Z.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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High contrast stills showing dust plume illuminated beneath the funnel. 2245Z<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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