Weather spotting

"So how have you been?"  a patron asked me at the library today. 

"Oh, fine.  I've been out chasing tornadoes," I replied, reveling in the disbelieving look on the patron's face. 

Okay, they're cold-core funnels, not tornadoes, but if it's one thing I love it's a good cold-core funnel.  The story begins around noonish when I had to take Bella back to the vet (her incision has a minor infection).  On the way back a small but hard rain shower came and went, and as Mama and I headed out for lunch I pointed to the cloud that had passed us and remarked "If it were April I'd be a bit more concerned about that cloud.  It's awfully low."  Neither of us thought much more about it until we got to the local Hardee's and had our order placed.  Out of sheer curiosity I glanced towards the east and saw this.

I jumped out of the car and snapped one more picture while Mama paid for the food.

Given the size of that initial funnel I half-wondered if it had enough juice to touch down, and I subsequently ordered Mama (yes, ordered her, LOL) eastwards.  The initial funnel did not touch down, but it shifted shape and color constantly.

We pulled out onto Highway 25 and I got this picture of the whole storm.  The funnel is present in this picture but is very difficult to see.  Also noteworthy are the rain shafts.

Around the vicinity of the local Pentecost church I saw the funnel reforming, and we pulled into the church's rather ample parking lot.

There we settled in, tucked into our lunch, and watched the funnel twist and turn.

At one point I panned back again to catch the whole storm, which wasn't really too much of a storm.  There was a fair amount of rain but no lightning or thunder.  The funnel is faintly visible on the right in this picture.

Look very close to the rain shaft now.  There appears to be a second funnel.

Here the second funnel has come out to play a bit more.  It's the thicker one on the left, while the original one persisted on the right.

I wondered if the northern funnel might have enough chutzpah to touch down, but fortunately for those chaps out there in rural New Madrid County both funnels stayed aloft.  The pair dissipated a few minutes after I took that last picture, leaving me late for work and praising the good Lord for such a sight.

Cold-core funnels are fairly common in this part of the country.  Indeed I photographed one a few years back that was even more spectacular than this, though I'd have to dig through four thousand other pictures of clouds on my FB page in order to find them.  What can I say, sky photography is a hobby of mine.  I've only got the camera in my cell phone, but it does the job fairly well.  Anywho, these high-based funnel clouds can look scary but they are rarely cause for alarm.  They do rotate and they do occasionally touch down (as one did in Roswell, New Mexico three years ago), and when this happens they usually cause only minor damage.  I've yet to hear of a violent, Joplin-caliber tornado coming from one of these cold-core funnels, but they're still worth keeping an eye on.

In addition to the Heavenly Father above for allowing me to view these vortices, I thank my beloved mother for being kind enough to drive me out to the country to goggle at clouds.  Granted, we only had to drive about a mile, but I'm still thankful for the trip.  Thanks, Ma!!!

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987