Aug. 24, 08: Castle Rock & Parker, CO Tornado
Nice Sunday afternoon turns into an exciting backyard chase after I spot a persistent funnel south of Parker, which turned into a long, skinny tornado a half hour later. This one had ground rotation reported in the Lemon Gulch area (a mostly unpopulated hilly area east of I-25 between Castle Rock & Parker). NWS received four tornado reports (one of them a funnel cloud just southeast of Parker which I personally never saw ground rotation with, only the funnel). I stopped in a Parker subdivision at 5:30 and watched the storm form one of the longest, thinnest tornadoes I have seen so close to Denver! It lasted about 20 minutes before the ground circulation bombed out in one huge dirt cloud.
I quickly shifted east on I-70 to get to the eastern tornado warned line, but got a reality check as the warnings disappeared & the line weakened, collapsing as it shifted away from the boundary that made it so volatile. Took a few distant lightning shots, then headed back.
Read MoreI quickly shifted east on I-70 to get to the eastern tornado warned line, but got a reality check as the warnings disappeared & the line weakened, collapsing as it shifted away from the boundary that made it so volatile. Took a few distant lightning shots, then headed back.