Mother's Day Storm in Elk River, May 9, 2004

Was this a Wall Cloud or a Shelf Cloud formation? Perhaps it was both. It may have been a combination, according to a NWS meteorologist, where a shelf cloud and wall cloud were part of the same system. This is sometimes referred to as a rear flank downdraft or RFD. The wall cloud, to the right in these photos, was showing "inflow" at the tip of the formation and the shelf cloud portion, which only show up in the video, had a downdraft that caused the dirt to rise up in the fields on the South side of Hwy. 10. Email me with your ideas if you were able to view this storm in person.

Updated!

Here is a link to the Metro Skywarn page
What Really Happened on May 9, 2004?

Click on any images for larger picture.

The leading edge of the cell from Elk River Hill, Hwy 169 and Cnty 33	Distant Image of the lowering formation
Storm cell forms West of Elk River, Hwy. 10 by Steve's Nursery	Inflow from the North (right) adds to the cloud formation.
There is rain to the South (left) of this view and downburst from the outflow raise dirt from the fields	Lowering of the cloud but no rotation on the "tail"
The area near near Hwy. 10 and Joplin turns dark as the storm passes over	Ending of the storm
Mammatus clouds to the West at Storms End	Cotton Ball sunset, just for Mom

Click Here to view RealVideo of the Storm, about 4 minutes, 1.9MB

Email: Henry Griner

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This site was last updated 03/30/05