Look closely at the middle of that rain shaft in the photo. Do you see it? A funnel.
The photo was taken yesterday, July 24, by Scott Garcia from The Ledges on Longs Peak. The Longs summit is 14,259 feet and The Ledges are somewhat lower, perhaps 12,500+ feet. In this picture it’s impossible to tell how high the funnel is or where/if it touched down, but needless to say this is not a place where one expects to see a tornado.
The highest elevation a tornado has ever occurred is unknown; but it is at least 10,000 feet above sea level. On 7 July 2004, a hiker observed and photographed a tornado at 12,000 feet in Sequoia National Park, California. That probably was the highest elevation tornado observed in the U. S. On 28 July 2012, a spectacular tornado moved across ground elevations of around 11,900 feet, along the flank of Mt. Evans, CO.
(Hmm. Were those really “tornadoes” or just “cold air funnels”?)
According to meteorologist Chris Tomer, of Denver’s Fox31, yesterday’s funnel was a tornado, but “not in the traditional sense.” He thinks it was a type of tornado called a non-supercell landspout or cold air funnel.
A different photo, taken from near Grand Lake by Brandon Vogt and submitted to the National Weather Service in Boulder, shows the funnel not touching down:
But who’s to say, really. These things drop from the clouds, go back up, and maybe drop again. Nevertheless, NWS took this as confirmation that the funnel did not touch down. Had it touched down and caused damage, it would have been classified as an EF-0 level tornado (winds up to 85 mph).
Was it a tornado or a cold air funnel? Did it touch down? What was its elevation? Does it really matter? It’s fascinating stuff, and that’s reason enough to talk about it.
Weird and Cool stuff.
I was just reading about the lightning sites (https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/why-lightning-strikes-this-area-more-than-anywhere-else-in-colorado)
The more you know about weird stuff, the more interesting weird stuff is!
I knew the “lay of the land” around the Palmer Divide contributed to much heavier snowfalls there than here in north Denver, but I hadn’t heard about the concentration of lightning. I’m content to leave it all down south. Hazards enough up here as it is.
We’ve always had a basic rule: get up early, like, and get down before the lightning wakes up.
Weird stuff is intriguing…so easy to get sidetracked
That’s the rule for anyone going into the high country. Still, lightning kills somebody every year.
Far too many not from area and think the world is Disneyland…like those girls in Yellowstone and the charging buffalo ( yes NPS should have issues citations – otherwise, without consequences – no learning to follow rules (which were designed to protect them…duh)
I wanted to let you know…I got this e-mail from Brian’s (LordBeariOfBow) daughter Sarah:
“Dad is still in hospital. Very frail. Had an operation yesterday to put a stent in his valve. They said it went well. He has a scan on Monday to check.
He will appreciate every ones thoughts – thank you for checking on him and sending love and best wishes. I will pass them on.
He is looking forward to writing a blog about his admission.”
(((HUGS)))
Oh thank you so much for passing along that info. I’ve been so worried about him, not having had any word. I imagine he is pretty frail. I think he’s about 9-10 years older than I am. Any surgery at that age is a BIG deal.
(Hope the hotmail address I have for him is still current)
You’re welcome!
Yes, surgeries are so hard…even on young bodies. 🙁 And as we get more well-seasoned, it takes us longer to recover. 🙁