Southeastern Colorado: June 23, 2023
I’ve had countless storm chases over the past few years, but aside from a brief tornado here or there, most of my recent storm chases were lacking tornadoes. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy a picturesque supercell or an ominous shelf cloud, but there’s just something different about witnessing a tornado.
On June 23rd, 2023, I targeted southeastern Colorado for the day’s storm chase. Most other chasers were further north, but I’ve always done my own thing. I noticed a bit of a dryline bulge on surface data down there, along with unseasonably rich moisture to the east and high resolution computer models hinting at the potential for an isolated supercell in the area. That gave me the confidence to storm chase there.
An initial storm developed by La Junta, Colorado. Given the initially somewhat dry air there, I decided to wait south of Granada, for the storm to move into better moisture. One thing that stood out to me was the low level winds. One of the key factors that’s been lacking from many storm chases this year is a robust low level jet. Stronger low level winds create an environment that is more conducive to tornadogenesis, assuming other ingredients come into play as well. Here, there was a stiff wind that caught my eye.
As the lone storm approached, there was prominent structure, a lot of dust and eventually a tornado warning was issued. Due to the dust, I initially planned to watch the storm from afar, but due to the rotation I noticed on radar and the relatively slow movement of the storm, I felt it was okay to get closer.
While observing storms from a distance allows me to see the broader storm structure, it often means I miss out at a view of a tornado. Most tornadoes only last a few minutes, so time is of the essence. On this chase, as I got closer, I watched a tornado form, just south of Granada. I got my cameras ready and watched the storm. Little did I know that this would go on to be a long-lived tornado.
In the moment, I froze and all I wanted to do was capture the moment. After observing tornadoes from a great distance in May and not being able to get quality shots of the storm, I invested in a new telephoto lens a couple of weeks ago. With this lens, I was able to zoom in on the tornado and get some of the best tornado footage I’ve captured since 2016.
Was this my best tornado chase ever? No. Could I have gotten closer? Sure. However, it’s not about perfection. I’ll be the first to admit that a couple of these photos are even slightly out of focus. Storm chasing, for me, is about finding a storm and capturing the moment. Storms don’t last forever and moments like these are relatively rare, even for someone like myself who’s been chasing for just about 10 years now.
This tornado churned over mostly rural areas, but did, unfortunately, cause damage to one ranch and destroyed a home. It was the first EF-3 tornado to impact Colorado in just over eight years.
I watched the tornado for over 20 minutes, making it the longest lived tornado I’ve been able to observe since 2016. Believe it or not, I saw at least one other tornado that night, but the main show was this slow-moving EF-3 twister.
Below is a wide angle perspective, lasting 16 minutes, which shows a large chunk of the tornado’s life cycle. While it’s not the closest or most compelling footage, you can see the broader storm structure and notice how the tornado takes a bit of an erratic path over time.
