Aug, 24, 08: Parker, CO Landspout Tornado

Potent, well-formed landspout tornado touches down a few miles south of Parker about 5:30. Large swirling dust cloud passes next to houses in the Lemon Gulch area, sucking tons of dirt thousands of feet up into storm's base. This video shows the funnel's incredible stretched appearance, classic high plains structure.

For more high quality pics, visit:
http://mistertwister.smugmug.com/gallery/5791753_mvc49#360407085_FS5iQ

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Parker
• landspout
• tornado
• Lemon
• Gulch
• Castle
• Rock

[stormspinner1]

NICE capture. Stupid question: landspout, does that mean a small tornado? Very seldom hear that term...

*StormSpinner1* in Texas

[jmchaser]

No such thing as a stupid question, stormspinner--that's how u learn.

"Landspout" is a term that refers to a violently rotating column of air beneath a storm (like your typical tornado) but one that isn't necessarily connected to or formed from a mesocyclone. I debated over calling this one a "landspout", since just to the east there was another bona fide tornado that formed under a wall cloud/meso, but to the general public there's really no difference.

[minion278]

did this landspout have a rating on the EF scale ?

[jmchaser]

No it didn't--officially anyway. The storm caused no damage to any buildings, cars, or other structures (which is what the EF Scale was created for--rating actual physical damage).

The only other ways it could have been accurately rated are if it was scanned by portable Doppler radar OR if a scientist analyzed video of the tornado/landspout's motion (i.e. video photogrammetry). Either way, it was probably at worst very briefly weak EF-1.

[MrPenguincat]

Thanks for explaining what a landspout in a simple way. I had a currently unknown tornado like thing In Jan. So all bits are helping me find out what it was. I was the only person to see it well no one mentioned it online.

[maxolsonsk8]

Hey i saw that landspout from my house

There was a funnel cloud behind my house we went out and cased today we chased and saw another landspout

we got it on video

[vfIskullangel]

You guys are lucky in Denver I hate the Springs!

[minion278]

thanks...i'm a twister buff, i knew about how the rating scale was established and the criteria used to rate it, except i didn't know that radar could rate it from afar....that's pretty neat....

thanks !