Amazing day. For all the days where we had the perfect setup and high risk and nothing came of it, this marginal slight risk day in south-east Colorado made up for every single one. The only storm worth chasing anywhere, that we decided to eat lunch in front of because it was moving so slow, teased us all day long with funnels and ominous lowerings. At one point the cell was so unimpressive we even called it a storm and started heading back north, only to turn around when we noticed it getting its act together and producing another wall cloud. Even then we reposition a couple times as it would drop a funnel almost to the ground and then wrap itself up and reform the meso. Then suddenly, when we had pulled off just over the Oklahoma state line to watch it pass and then move on, it put down a beautiful, well-contrasted rope to the ground. The rope quickly grew three times in size and became a very violent stovepipe with intense ground-level rotation and a significant debris cloud at the base. For a good 10 minutes we were able to watch this tornado amble to the east until it was wrapped in rain, and then as it emerged a couple minutes later trying to touch down again. It was easily the best tornado I have ever seen, and from what I was hearing while I was taking pictures, the best tornado a lot of people have seen in a long time. For having no real expectations today, this was just unreal.

I'm getting my pics uploaded now, and I will do Neil's pics and the videos tonight at the hotel.