© Matthew Clark
Campo, Colorado, United States of America
Latitude: 37° 4' 10'' N
Longitude: 102° 34' 41'' W
31 May 2010 1810 (Local Time)
Camera direction: towards SE
Image P/S code: P.11.5
Image I.D.: 5191
CL = 9, CM = /, CH = /
This picture shows a tornado (of strength EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale) that occurred near Campo, Colorado, USA. A tornado is a specific type of spout.
A spout is defined as a violent whirlwind, revealed by the presence of a cloud column or inverted cone (funnel cloud) protruding from the base of a Cumulonimbus or Cumulus cloud, and by the presence of a “bush” composed of water droplets raised from the surface of the sea or of dust, sand or litter raised from the ground.
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A developing funnel cloud (tuba) is located at 1, about three kilometres from the photographer. It protrudes from a rain-free part of the flanking line to a Cumulonimbus. Cloud fragments near the vortex did not appear to be rotating. Another flanking line at 5 was also associated with the same Cumulonimbus. Occasional large drops of rain reached the ground where the photographer was standing, and winds were blowing towards the vortex at about 15 m s-1. A surface low was, centred 250 kilometres to the south-south-west. It was part of an elongated NNE-SSW low-pressure area. The funnel cloud became one of ten tornadoes which occurred in a two-hour period in west-central Kansas.
The cloud can also be seen in PR.200 as it appeared two minutes later.
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