July 14th, 2003 Lake Crystal, MN
Some very interesting tornado genesis from this supercell. As we approached it from the Southwest on MN-60, the NWS office in Chanhassen, MN reissued a tornado warning for the storm with rotation over the town of Lake Crystal. With Lake Crystal just 2 miles ahead on the road, Dean and I were baffled as the base under the updraft looked like something out of the movie 'Twister'. Just a flat cloud base could be seen with no rotation. But of course, the NWS office wouldn't have issued a warning had there been no rotation and sure enough, within 2 minutes, there was a large rotating wall cloud. As we rushed towards the wall cloud, a large tornado dropped within seconds. The multiple vortex tornado did F2 damage and in the last picture, you can see the large wall cloud with vorticies dancing around the edge. Very pretty tornado.
-Webmaster
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Copyright 2003 Windswept Chase Tours. Reproduction of media on this site is strictly prohibited without written consent.
Some very interesting tornado genesis from this supercell. As we approached it from the Southwest on MN-60, the NWS office in Chanhassen, MN reissued a tornado warning for the storm with rotation over the town of Lake Crystal. With Lake Crystal just 2 miles ahead on the road, Dean and I were baffled as the base under the updraft looked like something out of the movie 'Twister'. Just a flat cloud base could be seen with no rotation. But of course, the NWS office wouldn't have issued a warning had there been no rotation and sure enough, within 2 minutes, there was a large rotating wall cloud. As we rushed towards the wall cloud, a large tornado dropped within seconds. The multiple vortex tornado did F2 damage and in the last picture, you can see the large wall cloud with vorticies dancing around the edge. Very pretty tornado.
-Webmaster
Copyright 2003 Windswept Chase Tours. Reproduction of media on this site is strictly prohibited without written consent.