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Ah, Alberta! This
was my first opportunity to chase in Alberta after having missed out on
some great setups earlier in the season. Today's pattern wasn't too
shabby as a Pacific trough would be kicking across the northern Rockies.
A surface low had taken shape across far northern MT by midday and the
forecast shear profiles were certainly supportive of rotating storms.
Forecast storm motions showed NNEerly movement, so I targeted Medicine Hat, AB to keep ahead of any development while also hoping for some enhancement off the Cypress Hills. I later drifted north towards Hanna after water vapor imagery revealed a vort max approaching that area (I assumed this would be the main trigger), but around 2pm I just happened to notice a large TCu erupt in my rearview mirror. I pulled over and watched as it later fizzled; however the clouds to my north remained severely capped so I proceeded back to Medicine Hat just in time to see a Cb materialize near the earlier development. |
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Here's the first Cb
early on not too far SE of Medicine Hat. This storm managed to drop
~1" hailstones later on as it evolved into a multicellular mess.
I quickly grew tired of this and turned my attention farther south towards
new development.
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While driving south towards Manyberries,
AB, I noticed a suspicious, compact updraft base to my SSW. This
photo shows the storm much later on as a substantial wall and tail cloud
have now evolved from the rather high updraft base.
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There are very limited
roads to choose from in this part of Alberta, but thankfully HWY 41 provided
me an intercept opportunity. As you can see here, a wet RFD has now
developed while the updraft base appears less organized. Believe
it or not, the area just to the 11 o'clock position of dead center is a
leftover rotating column that earlier produced a tiny funnel. Little
did I know I'd see a couple more of these small funnels as the chase continued.
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Convective mergers had become too common near the previous storm, so I aborted that in favor of more promising and isolated convection farther south near the MT/AB border. Here's the view from near Onefour, AB looking SW at a slow-moving tail-end supercell in MT. I was stopped at this location for nearly an hour able to photograph this as it approached my location. 1928 MDT |
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A pretty nice looking
wall cloud at this point.
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Well so much for the wall cloud!
A darned RFD cut it off leaving this pathetic roll cloud structure.
The show however was not over.
Since I was so close to the border, I wanted to make it back before the nearest border crossing closed at 9pm. I wasn't more than 20 minutes from the border at this point, but needed to be mindful of the time. 1958 MDT |
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That roll cloud filled
in some and I soon noticed multiple gustnadoes spinning up along the boundary.
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Very nice skeletal structure.
Despite the RFD having disrupted the previous wall cloud, a balance was
still in place allowing this new wall cloud to develop. Out of all
the CGs I was seeing in this supercell's vault, I failed to capture a single
one with my camera. Any one of those would have made for an even
more spectacular photo!
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Skeletal LP supercell
structure continued.
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Looking at the remains of the wall
cloud as the RFD surges ahead and transforms it into a shelf cloud.
I drove north a couple miles to get back ahead of it for some photo opportunities,
but the structure had become less vivid.
After this I shot south to the border where the border agent mentioned some German tourists had observed several funnels while driving south on the same highway as me. I told him at least one of those was legit! 2023 MDT |
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Now back in MT, I made
tracks to Havre for dinner. I would have made it there at a reasonable
hour, but more rotating storms fired and I couldn't resist their photo
potential.
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On radar all of these storms had
nice reflectivity patterns...especially considering their distance from
TFX's radar. As soon as one updraft grew appreciably, rotation soon
followed. This is another rotating storm looking NW into Alberta.
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My second ultra-tiny
funnel of the day. In hindsight I probably should have called this
in, but it's just soooo shallow and in no danger of becoming a tornado.
I will give it credit for having hung around for about six minutes.
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Fantastic sunset! The funnel
shown above is just off the picture and to the right.
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Armageddon! Well,
not quite. Here, an amazing shadow from the rotating storm has engulfed
a portion of the eastern sky and horizon.
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Here's the source of the cloud shadow
shown above. I photographed a panoramic sequence of this from one
horizon to the other, but stitching these photos together is another chore
altogether! Someday I'll get around to it.
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Ultra-tiny funnel number
three of the day! I wanted to throw on my telephoto zoom lens, but
feared this would fizzle in the process. So, here's a cropped version
from around 40mm (excluding magnification factor). Who knows how
many more of these were being kicked out from the remaining rotating storms
to the north.
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When I did finally throw the telephoto
zoom lens on, I decided to frame some of the vibrant colors surrounding
the main updraft.
I've always had a great respect for the lesser chased areas such as the northern High Plains considering this is home to several photogenic events like this every summer. Just think how many great storms here go unphotographed or even unnoticed! 2134 MDT |