Day 9: Lots of Action in Eastern Colorado!

 Hello weather enthusiasts, 

Today, the SWIFT team had quite the adventure. We spent all day chasing multiple tornadoes throughout northeastern Colorado and had a lot of success! The first supercell we chased in the early afternoon was near Akron, CO. We saw it make several attempts to spin up, but ultimately the tornado formed after it became rain-wrapped, and it was hard for us to see. Reports indicated that the tornado produced 2-3" hailstones-- that's one strong rotating updraft! 

                                        A wall cloud that we really really wanted to be a tornado.

*Cue the Wicked Witch of the West and flying monkeys*

Captured radar image of the tornado we were chasing which evolved into:

The question mark radar capture: Where is the tornado??? (behind the rain shield)

Later in the afternoon, we headed south towards Wray, CO to watch another supercell attempt to create tornadoes. We followed many tornado warnings and kept an eye on tornado signatures on the radar, but only saw a few funnel clouds and some jaw-dropping scenery. 

A funnel cloud that we also really wanted to become a tornado (we even did our lucky pushups!)

Nothing better than watching a supercell at sunset.

We ended our night with a beautiful lightning show as storms passed by, and are staking out in Oberlin, Kansas ready for more action tomorrow. Thanks for reading! 

Until next time, 

SWIFT 2021