Northern Colorado Tornados, Part 2: Observations

So, when the word went out that there was a huge tornado on the ground about 10 miles from the Atmospheric Science department where I work, what did everybody do? That’s right! We ran up onto the roof to go see if we could see it!

We had a great view of the horizon from our perch on top of one of the highest buildings in the whole area. This made us aware of lightening danger, but not concerned enough to go inside. On a clear day, we can easily see past Windsor to the south and all the way into Wyoming in the north. On Thursday, however, the skies were filled with clouds, rain, and fog, so we never got a clear view of the funnel cloud.

After the storm rained itself out, our skies cleared up a bit, and we got a view of the HUGE cumulonimbus thunderhead above the storm, and eventually the remnants of the wall cloud which includes the upper part of the wide funnel. I uploaded the videos to You Tube, enjoy!