Pecos Hank
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Is it a Tornado, Landspout, Gustnado or Burrito?
🕑 Added 2024-07-12 17:35:50 +0000 UTCHappy Friday Patrons,
Last night's chat was a lot of fun. One particularly extra fun topic was the KS lightning storm / landspout event on June 18th. Multiple dust vortexes spun up with characteristics of both landspouts and gustnadoes. Perhaps hybrids. So what exactly were they and how many do we tally? Some chasers claim to have seen 5 tornadoes and perhaps they did. I am currently only logging 1.
Why does it matter? It doesn't to some, it does to others including me. As humans, we are wired to believe whatever we want to believe or need to believe. To combat these innate biases, philosophers developed critical thinking exercises and the scientific method. We've invested an ocean of time and money into capturing tornadoes. Successful days shower us with praise on social media and build our brands. Failures summon cricket chirps while our competition sprints ahead to the roar of the mob. There is a lot of pressure for us to produce results... One way or another.
REGARDING CONCLUSIONS, THE MOST FORGIVING ERRORS in my opinion is ignorance. We're all ignorant. It should be no big deal discovering when we are ignorant, rather celebrated, however we were born with an id and an ego.
Worst than ignorance (IMO) is purposely deceiving the public to better serve your progress. It's almost forgiving (but not) when someone blatantly lies to better promote their business. Remember, we're talking about tallying tornadoes, not climate change.
But the worst of all of them (to me personally) is when we lie to ourselves and stubbornly refuse to accept uncomfortable data. Perhaps we can just chalk that up as weakness... Another trait we all possess.
SO, LET'S BEGIN THE EXERCISE
If you look closely (above) you'll see a funnel cloud with an itty bitty teensy-weensy dust spin up below it. Hardly violent. After the funnel dissipated multiple little gustnadoes spun up here and there along the OFB (Outflow boundary). So perhaps, this was just a gustnado colocated under a funnel? Even if it was the same vortex, was it violent?
IS "THE TINY FUNNEL" A TORNADO OR NOT?
NEXT CASE...
Above is the same thingie as in the cover shot. We clearly had strong rotation / a mesocyclone above the dust vortex. I'm currently tallying this as my only tornado, HOWEVER it may not be. In the time-lapsed footage it appears there may be sinking air (rain/virga) above the vortex and the vortex might be the result of convergence around that sinking air. This is a very interesting case because it may somewhat validate Dr. Jana Houser's "bottom up" theory.
IS THE ABOVE "MESOCYCLONE & VORTEX" A TORNADO?
NEXT CASE...
Here we have a nice landspouty looking thingie clearly riding the OFB out in front of the storm.
IS THIS "LANDSPOUTY THINGIE" A TORNADO?
Next case...
Prior to this shot, this vortex was a pretty good dust tube. Again, clearly riding the OFB. Obviously this "SILONADO" is a gustnado right?
FINAL CASE...
My view was impaired by a thick wall of rain but perhaps someone directly in the notch was able to confirm a visible touchdown. Was this "RAIN WRAPPED CIRCULATION" A Tornado?
I hope this guy below chimes in as he was all over these storms... and the flies. Currens, If you're listening, we need you too.
Have fun truth seeking chasers.
Comments
Janine Moss
Love this post Hank! I'm a woman of science and I'm always willing to say "I don't know" and proceed to research. When I taught K-5th grade science, I always pointed out failures in a lab are still valuable lessons. We know what didn't work. And try again. Or we have happy accidents and we learned something new. Bill Nye has the best video on scientists who "failed" but made great discoveries. I also pointed out that predictions and hypothesis are what we are thinking ahead of the experiment. After the experiment, I always told them they weren't wrong with their predictions, they learned something new and can make a new conclusion.
Brock Terry
What a wonderful post Hank. Beautiful.
Pecos Hank
Love that youre watching over us both Christine!
Pecos Hank
Nice to hear you're like-minded Kim. Storm Chasing is an audit-less trade, hence the extra plethora of BS.
Pecos Hank
Thanks Maximo. The chat was just goofing around. I'll try to get some smart guests in ones down the road. Dusty vortexes are still amazing sights to see regardless of how we categorize it.
Christine Veerkamp
I can confirm Daniel was using his new Bug Zapper a lot. You could hear the constant "bzz" Bzzz" Bzz" on Stream. Its was so hilarious. It was great seeing you a few times on the Streams.
Kim Logue
Thanks for your integrity Hank. It's refreshing having someone who values truth and fact over the plethora of misinformation and self promotion out there. I appreciate learning from you and others who understand the physics and factors that drives these things and present them as they actually are. Keep doing what you do!
Máximo Argy
Interesting comparison and reflection Hank. Personally I am not in a position to rate correctly, although once chasing near my home in Rosario (Arg) I saw a vortex similar to your last photo, with a very clear dusty rotation and some torn clouds just above. I think it was a gustnado, although I had doubts, it moved very slowly. PS: I arrived late for the chat last night, I was busy. I'll watch in delay as soon as I can.
VonniDe
Could'nt of said it better Hank!. Until next time fun and safe travels. 👍
Pecos Hank
Can you post this in the chats so we can click the link? We’re too lazy to copy and paste.
John McNamara
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Scott Currens
My favorite “Is that a tornado?” chase of my career. 12:50 is when things get nutty. https://youtu.be/3fyLjg8ERgI?si=xEHwQavjTV1bAM8i
John McNamara
Hi Hank, two images from the storm that came through Western New York on Wednesday this week. Part of the tail end of storm Beryl that visited you recently.
Pecos Hank
I made a “chat” about this topic so that you guys can post your photos.
