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I was keen on the surface low, dryline and warm front intersection over far southeast SK this day despite the best upper support being delayed (crude surface analysis). Convection was able to materialize near the surface low by mid afternoon, so I shot west from Carlyle to Stoughton to get a better read on this development. The initial cells were rather soft and pulsy in nature and when these trends didn't improve by 1700 CDT, I was actually considering scrapping the chase and dropping south for the nearest border crossing. Despite that brief feeling of hopelessness about the chase, my patience won out and I ended up waiting at the Esso gas station in Stoughton for a good 30 minutes until one cell was able to lower its base and showcase some attempts at wall clouds. Intrigued, I filled the car up and proceeded northwest on PH 33 to a secondary road near Fillmore. During the drive, the cell rapidly dropped an opaque precip core in the middle of its updraft resulting in a storm split. The right split quickly evolved into a classic supercell with a slow rotating wall cloud (shown here). |
| Rotating wall cloud at 1812 CST. Note: all times are local (Saskatchewan doesn't observe DST). |  |
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Supercell structure quickly escalates. 1824 CST |
| The storm motion had now
turned southeast and was directly paralleling HWY 33. While I was about 11 miles
northwest of Stoughton, I observed this occluding meso from close range with
intermittent, wrapping bands of heavy rain and thankfully no hail. 1842 CST |
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The rotation in the constricting meso improved
markedly over the course of several minutes. After videoing a brief horizontal vortex on
the edge of the wall cloud, I looked up to see these twin funnels just to my northeast near the
periphery of the decaying meso! 1856 CST |
| I lingered too long on the
backside of this supercell monitoring the occluding meso and soon found myself having
to shoot southeast back towards Stoughton to get ahead of the new occlusion cycle
shown here. 1904 CST |
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The structure only became more photogenic
as I proceeded southeast. 1911 CST |
| Within a minute of taking the
previous photo, I found a perfect rural road complete with a vibrant canola field to
complement this gorgeous supercell. 1912 CST |
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Over time, my focus was competing with this young, but
rapidly maturing Cb to my distant southwest. Long story short, this Cb would also go on to
become a supercell in no time that I would eventually chase--more on this later! 1917 CST |
| Looking north at a rotating wall cloud
with the mature supercell. This wall cloud resided well behind the initial occlusion downdraft
and could have easily been mistaken as a scud bomb; however a series of small funnels later on
clearly revealed there was more to this wall cloud. 1918 CST |
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Here's the first of three small, short-lived
funnels from the remnants of the rotating wall cloud shown above. 1926 CST |
| As I pressed east of Stoughton on
PH 13, the main supercell developed a strong, moist RFD that culminated in a supercell transition
from classic to HP. By and large, I'm not a fan of chasing HPs unless they're the only show in
town. During this drive east, I couldn't ignore the painfully obvious younger of the two
supercells now to my distant west (shown here). I stopped briefly to photograph both supercells
and debated aborting the HP in favor of this tail-end cell. Through all of my storm chases
over the years, this decision is not always an easy one. I decided to stick with the HP
supercell given its history of cyclical mesos and a now more robust RFD that could encourage
tornadogenesis--albeit potentially rain wrapped. In hindsight, a storm chaser from Regina
that I had chatted with earlier on in the chase did the opposite of me. As it would turn
out, our differing strategies both resulted in tornadoes! 1948 CST |
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Beautifully flanged front-flank updraft to this now
monster HP supercell! Several of these photos were taken along PH 13 between Forget and Kisbey which
coincidentally was the same stretch of road I chased during the memorable events of
June 23, 2007. 2008 CST |
| View looking west along PH 13 at the southern
edge of this supercell's RFD shelf cloud and striation aloft. Look closely in the distance and you'll see the westernmost
supercell that was apparently producing a brief tornado around this time--d'oh! 2008 CST |
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Compact and opaque RFD negotiating a rather
large mesocyclone. This is a great example of what the bear's cage looks like
from a distance of about 3 miles. 2010 CST |
| A little farther east now on PH 13 watching this
vivid mothership approach my location. 2016 CST |
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Supercells with canola fields in the foreground simply can't be beat! 2017 CST |
| While at the intersection of PR 604 and PH 13, I decided to
drift north on a gravel road (towards Moose Mtn Prov. Park) to get a better read on the occluding mesocyclone while
ambient light was still available. This was one of the few times I've ever let the bear's cage overtake me. I
expected at least some hail, but amazingly all precip was liquid at my location with very little wind. The situation
however proved more complex than I anticipated when the primary occlusion downdraft passed over my location and then to the
east (shown here) leaving a chaotic wake of eroded updraft material directly overhead. INTENSE vertical shear accompanied the seemingly
harmless scud tags nearby and although I couldn't discern any organized rotation, I was witness to two shallow shear funnels
that were obviously a response to chaotic interactions between the back edge of the meso and cascading RFDs. What would
happen next was completely unexpected, but rather deserving for having so foolishly entered the bear's cage! 2029 CST |
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TORNADO! My only advance notice that the situation was going a wry was
when the steady westerly winds at my location changed abruptly to the east, with gusts easily pushing 50 knots. By the time I reacted, this narrow
condensation tube appeared in the field immediately to my east. I had been scanning all quadrants up to this point, but never noticed anything
tornadic, so needless to say I was shocked. From my video, this tornado lasted for at most one minute during which time the condensation
dissipated and a family of tiny suction spouts (made visible by the recent rain) emerged as the tornado continued southeast through the field.
Visually, the rotation appeared rather weak and I'm very fortunate it was not any stronger or closer. 2032 CST |
| Having re-gained my composure, I forged south to PH 13 to assess the tornadic supercell
and more importantly obtain a better view of the supercell farther west. Considering daylight was now in short supply, I finally decided
to abort the HP storm in favor of the tail-end cell that was looking even better than before. While drifting south on PR 604,
I watched as this latter supercell developed this respectable wall cloud and monster beaver's tail (likely along the lead supercell's outflow boundary).
2053 CST |
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Even with sunset having occurred, the convection to this classic
supercell became more intense with a marked increase in lightning frequency throughout the updraft summit. 2113 CST |
| Ahh...crisp convection slowly curling with height! 2115 CST |
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Final view of this latter supercell that also produced a brief tornado about one hour before
this photo. The outflow boundary that coincides with the beaver's tail visible in these photos began surging south ultimately
causing the demise of this supercell. 2119 CST |
| While driving south to the Portal border crossing, I had to stop just once to snag some
of the frequent lightning courtesy of the first supercell that was STILL in progress...now about 50 miles to my northeast near Redvers, SK. In the
foreground you can see the extensive trailing arcus cloud from this storm's cold pool. 2228 CST |
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One final shot before the arcus cloud obscured the structure. Believe it or not this night
would feature yet one more supercell--this time along the cold front racing southeast in southern SK. I was just outside of Plentywood, MT
after midnight when I was treated to a rounded updraft silhouetted by frequent lightning to my distant north. Too tired to pull over for tripoded
video or stills, I just videoed a bit from within the car before bidding the storm farewell. Once again, this was a fantastic chase in Canada
that exceeded my expectations! Total mileage from Glasgow, MT: 719 miles. 2228 CST |
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All photos © Copyright 2008 Matt Ziebell
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