STORM
CLOUDS OVER LETHBRIDGE AND COALDALE, ALBERTA
JUNE 21,
2005
Pictures
by Clive Schaupmeyer (Coaldale) e-mail,
and
Mike and
Christa Schaupmeyer (Lethbridge)
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At about
5:45 PM June 21, 2005 a storm started to form west of Lethbridge--or at
least that's when it was becoming obvious from Coaldale. See top composite
panorama below.
At 6:28,
when I went back outside, there were two funnel clouds over west Lethbridge--they
formed earlier to the west. By 6:40 the funnel clouds had dissipated. The
belly of the storm drifted toward Coaldale and was churning and swirling.
We saw no new funnels, although one large dome formed about 1 km north
of Coaldale at about 7:15 PM--bottom image. This roiling mass drifted to
the east and caused considerable damage north of Chin. There was rough
weather in the Taber and Vauxhall areas. Hail occurred in West Lethbridge
and elsewhere.
These are
not the best quality images, but give a sense of what was happening. We
were far from the funnels and the images are not very sharp. My favorite
image is the last one.
This the
storm brewing at about 5:45 PM. This is a composite image made from 4 images.
This covers an angle of about 120 to 150°. The main cloud was huge.
Below is
how I first saw the funnels--enlarged. The funnels were still west of west
Lethbridge at the time. This is a "blown up" portion cropped from a smaller
image. The funnels dissipated quite fast, but based on other reports the
main funnel had been down for several minutes.
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Just two
minutes later the funnels were starting to break up.
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Mike took
this from West Lethbridge ... looking west at about 6:35 PM ... below
About 6:35
taken from Coaldale ... below
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A bit later
... below
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Mike collected
these hailstones just west of Lethbridge.
This shot
(below) was taken at 7:15 PM just across the street from our house. This
dome appeared to be about 1 to 2 km north of our house. The storm drifted
toward Vauxhall after leaving Coaldale.
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