Tornado spotted from a plane

After a quick weekend trip to South Dakota to visit two National Parks, I flew back to Texas Monday evening and spotted something spectacular out my airplane window. 

Prior to my connecting flight from Rapid City to Denver, I looked at the radar and saw a few thunderstorms bubbling up across the Front Range of the Rockies. I knew it could be a bumpy flight heading to the Mile High City. 

Mid-flight, I started to see cumulonimbus clouds towering over the land below. I then noticed a cloud in the distance starting to rotate, and a funnel began to form.

It was not long after that when the funnel reached the ground, and I snapped this picture.  

Getting a literal bird’s eye view of a tornado is a memory that I won’t soon forget. 

The tornado was rated an EF1 by the National Weather Service Office in Boulder, Colorado. The tornado was on the ground for 7.5 miles and tore a path of destruction through Weld County. For more on the tornado’s path, click here.