A weather lesson - Mesocyclones, Striation and Funnel Clouds, OH MY!

Well, it's that time again, time for posting my Sky Watch Friday shot. I am cheating a little in two ways... 1. I am posting it on Thursday (because I know I'll be pressed for time tomorrow getting ready and finished so I can head out for my conference)... 2. I posted two pics to fully capture the moment, but I guess the first one is my "Official SWF" shot. (Please visit Tom's blog to participate.) Allow to me to set this shot up if you will. I was somewhere near Kyle, SD, on June 6, 2007, filming with the Twister Sisters for the "Twister Sisters" TV show (my episode has been playing on re-runs on WEtv.) This shot is my first ever visually recognizable mesocyclone, just before one of 3 funnel clouds dropped from it (shown in the subsequent shot). This is a large mesocyclone that I experienced while I was storm chasing in South Dakota.

Mesocyclone
(abbrev. MESO)- A storm-scale region of rotation, typically around 2-6 miles in diameter and often found in the right rear flank of a supercell. The circulation of a mesocyclone covers an area much larger than the tornado that may develop within it. A mesocyclone should not be considered a visually-observable phenomenon (although visual evidence of rotation, such as curved inflow bands, may imply the presence of a mesocyclone).~NOAA Glossary

In this case, the mesocyclone was clearly evidenced by the striation on the outer edge of the specific cloud structure in the photograph...

Striations
Grooves or channels in cloud formations, arranged parallel to the flow of air and therefore depicting the airflow relative to the parent cloud. Striations often reveal the presence of rotation, as in the barber pole or "corkscrew" effect often observed with the rotating updraft of a Low Precipitation (LP) storm.

On the right side of the photograph, you can see a lowered wall cloud, and to the right of that, the rain.

Wall Cloud
A localized, persistent, often abrupt lowering from a rain-free base. Wall clouds can range from a fraction of a mile up to nearly five miles in diameter, and normally are found on the south or southwest (inflow) side of the thunderstorm. When seen from within several miles, many wall clouds exhibit rapid upward motion and cyclonic rotation.

We watched as the newly developing wall cloud on the left side of the photograph, with its powerful inflow pulled scud from that on the right, which eventually dissipated. This occurred shortly before the wall cloud on the left dropped 3 funnel clouds. Both wall clouds showed strong rotation. I've never seen anything like it (in person) before or since. The next photograph shows the descended rope funnel cloud that never touched down. There was a tornado that did develop that day in Kyle, SD (click here to see), but we missed it. Grrr...(If you click on the image you will better be able to see the skinny white rope funnel dropping from the wall cloud.)

OK, so that's my little weather lesson for today. If there is some action tonight, I will update this post in the morning; otherwise, have a fabulous weekend!

Update: Well, yesterday (Thursday) certainly did see some severe weather. Currently, there are 9 tornado reports (Wednesday's count was increased to 14 adding one in Oklahoma), but yesterday's included one in Beloit, Kansas that was reported at 1/3 to 1/2 of a mile wide!!! That is a huge tornado! There was also significant damage reported near Johnson, NE. For updates (and I'm sure pictures forthcoming) on yesterday's storms, check out these storm chasers' sites:

David Drummond
Mike Hollingshead
Dick McGowan (sure hope he was out)
Tony Laubach
Verne Carlson
Kudos to all the chasers sticking with it despite horrific prices on gas. I don't know if any of them caught anything, but they either did catch something, or saw something since they were most likely out chasing yesterday's storms. More severe weather forecasted today. I don't know if I will get a chance to post... stay tuned.

Have a great weekend!
~Dewdrop