Inside the Whale's Mouth

When a thunderstorm develops an expansive outflow boundary racing outward in front of it, a region opens up between the leading gust front and the intense precipitation in the core. After the passage of a sometimes impressive shelf cloud, this region offers a unique perspective to watch the storm structure from within. Especially the backside of the shelf cloud is often very turbulent as it consists of the inflow base of intense convective clouds overhead. Such a feature is often referred to as a whale's mouth, giving the observer the impression of being eaten by a huge whale before the storm hits. In this particular case, conditions ahead of the storm were very hazy obscuring the front of the storm entirely. Only after the passage of the gust front and associated clouds, the skies would open up and reveal this structure: an amazing experience.