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So this was pretty interesting...Upon leaving Black Mesa (Sunday 6/14/2009) and driving through the southeastern tip of Colorado and into Kansas, the western sky seemed to be brewing something up. I was heading for Dodge City, Kansas and the looming shadow seemed to always be just out of reach behind me all day. While in Dodge City, I overheard some locals discussing being in a tornado watch but thought nothing more of it. As the drive southward back to Oklahoma began, I saw this cloud formation on the horizon and i was itching to drive west in an attempt to intercept it and snap some shots. However, I figured it would have been a fruitless attempt and continued south on Highway 160. After 30-40 miles, I stopped at Big Basin to check it out since it seemed to have an interesting landscape. After spending some time walking around a bit, I noticed the storm clouds were getting closer and closer. I walked up on the crest of the hill on the edge of Big Basin and to my luck this was what I saw! This is a shelf cloud on the leading edge of a cold front moving to the southeast. Although the shelf cloud itself is not really threatening, the actual muscle of the thunderstorm is several miles behind it. I noticed there was a wedge shaped lowering near the center of the panorama and in the back, close to the horizon and wondered if that was a wall cloud. Upon doing a bit of a search, there was indeed a tornado near Sublette, KS earlier that afternoon and I speculate that the wedge that you can faintly see just right of center, near the horizon in this picture is the continuing circulation of the wall cloud. Once on the road, 15-25 minutes had passed and the shelf cloud dissipated and the thunderstorm behind continued on it's path until sunset. Here are some links to video footage of the actual tornado I found on youtube: [link] & [link]

Just some additional info: A shelf cloud is generally associated with a gust front, in this case, the downdraft of the thunderstorm. The dense, cool air falls down and out and pushes the warm, moist air upward. As the warm air cools, it creates a shelf cloud.

Panorama of 10 vertical pictures.

©Copyright Kyle Wright. You may NOT use, replicate, manipulate, or modify this image without my permission. All Rights Reserved.

Description
So this was pretty interesting...Upon leaving Black Mesa (Sunday 6/14/2009) and driving through the southeastern tip of Colorado and into Kansas, the western sky seemed to be brewing something up. I was heading for Dodge City, Kansas and the looming shadow seemed to always be just out of reach behind me all day. While in Dodge City, I overheard some locals discussing being in a tornado watch but thought nothing more of it. As the drive southward back to Oklahoma began, I saw this cloud formation on the horizon and i was itching to drive west in an attempt to intercept it and snap some shots. However, I figured it would have been a fruitless attempt and continued south on Highway 160. After 30-40 miles, I stopped at Big Basin to check it out since it seemed to have an interesting landscape. After spending some time walking around a bit, I noticed the storm clouds were getting closer and closer. I walked up on the crest of the hill on the edge of Big Basin and to my luck this was what I saw! This is a shelf cloud on the leading edge of a cold front moving to the southeast. Although the shelf cloud itself is not really threatening, the actual muscle of the thunderstorm is several miles behind it. I noticed there was a wedge shaped lowering near the center of the panorama and in the back, close to the horizon and wondered if that was a wall cloud. Upon doing a bit of a search, there was indeed a tornado near Sublette, KS earlier that afternoon and I speculate that the wedge that you can faintly see just right of center, near the horizon in this picture is the continuing circulation of the wall cloud. Once on the road, 15-25 minutes had passed and the shelf cloud dissipated and the thunderstorm behind continued on it's path until sunset. Here are some links to video footage of the actual tornado I found on youtube: [link] & [link]

Just some additional info: A shelf cloud is generally associated with a gust front, in this case, the downdraft of the thunderstorm. The dense, cool air falls down and out and pushes the warm, moist air upward. As the warm air cools, it creates a shelf cloud.

Panorama of 10 vertical pictures.

©Copyright Kyle Wright. You may NOT use, replicate, manipulate, or modify this image without my permission. All Rights Reserved.