I swore I wouldn’t go far to chase today and I didn’t have to: a severe TS watch plus a warned storm wound up right in my neighborhood. I first pushed up to a sports complex on a hill in Botetourt county to watch the oncoming storm. T…
Busts, that is. Today’s was a bit surprising given that there was a significant amount of wind shear available, plus an SPC Slight Risk and Severe Thunderstorm watches covering most of Virginia. I watched not one but TWO lines of storms wea…
Not sure I’m learning much from my mistakes recently. When storms fire near or over the Roanoke Valley – especially in early afternoon – I need to go someplace local to observe them and then let them go on their merry way eastward. Did I do…
Many of the storm chasing setups here in Virginia revolve around the lee trough, which acts as a key triggering and focusing mechanism for convection. During the majority of my Virginia chases the lee trough sets up just east of the Blue Ridge mo…
I deliberately didn’t go out chasing today as the last week or so of pop up storms had me feeling like I was chasing my tail. But when the squall line approached I did meander outside to video and take still photos of the event.Meanwhile tomorrow…
Given the severe thunderstorm watches that were posted just north of Roanoke and the inclusion of most of Virginia in the SPC Day One convective slight risk gave me hope that storms would fire by dinnertime. Storms did go up, but they were severa…
Sometimes fortune smiles on the storm chaser, as in today’s very local chase of a severe-warned thunderstorm that pushed out a 52 mph wind gust at the Roanoke airport. Since I was watching this storm literally across the street from the same airp…
As a result of the weak warm front lifting north of the area yesterday we were left with lots of moisture and instability but very little shear or capping. Thus popup storms were the norm again today, with some showers forming and then raining th…
Under another SPC-issued Slight risk for severe weather I was looking for storms to arrive in the Roanoke valley around 4:00 pm and I wasn’t disappointed. Actually heading out around 2:30 p.m. I drove to a recreational facility that sits on a hil…
Given the approach of a cold front plus a lee trough over the Piedmont of Virginia plus an SPC-issued Slight Risk there was no way I was sitting at home this afternoon. I picked up my son at 2:30 and motored eastward, setting our sights initially…
