Bill Reid Art

Menace

Artist: Bill Reid

High Precipitation Beast of a Supercell near Vernon, Colorado, on June 21, 2010. This magnificent and isolated supercell formed quickly in northeastern Colorado and moved rather quickly to the east as it strengthened. Our Tempest Tours group was some 20 - 25 miles NNE of the storm, and we had to expedite to the east to Wray and then south on 385 to get into position, in front of the storm. The low-level rotation, the look of the storm, and the radar display looked more-and-more impressive (and ominous) as the cell approached. The Yuma County Sandhills and the heavy precipitation with the storm blocked our view of any tornado, but the radar's shear marker of 161 knots strongly suggested that we did not want to be here when the storm went through! There was a problem, though. We were stopped at a highway construction zone and were waiting for a pilot car to arrive so that we could make our escape to the south. We could have darted to the north, with perhaps a lot of hail to contend with, but the pilot car came up just in time and we followed it to the south. The storm's winds blew the orange cones around and it was a white-knuckle ride for a couple of miles, but we made it out of there. This wide-angle shot is the view to the WSW, showing the leading face of the monster storm.

PrairiePicturesBillReidStormStockWR20100307049

From Storms