Based on the model forecasts I left home for Culpeper early this afternoon and arrived there around 2:00 p.m. to await convection given the monster CAPE values (>6000!) in northern Virginia. Turned out that I was a bit early as things didn’t s…
The models are pointing to good chase setups for both the Hokie Storm Chasers currently in Nebraska after a successful chase yesterday and for those of us here in the Mid-Atlantic. Storm initiation for northern Virginia appears to be mid-af…
I watched on radar a northwest / southeast oriented line of storms marching toward our region this afternoon and noticed that the northern cells were maintaining the best organization as they propagated toward Culpeper. Thus I chose that end of t…
Cyclic wall cloud formation underneath 5/21 Nebraska supercell. Wall cloud at right is dying out while the one at center is wrapping up. (Stuff at left is just cloud fragments…i.e. scud)Nebraska supercell structure May 21.Hokies watching …
It looks like there will be storm chase action today, tomorrow, and possibly Saturday that I could get to. Today would involve a trip west toward the Blue Ridge as things here around I-95 probably won’t be conducive to storm development. I …
This tornado yesterday was a small one but exciting to our crew. This is my poor attempt at capturing it on video. The town’s tornado sirens sent a chill up my spine when they sounded.
May 22nd has been a tornado day for the Hokie Stormchase team over a number of years, and today was no exception. We intercepted a tornado in the little town of Merango, Iowa and began filming it just as the tornado sirens began sounding. F…
“Doughnut hole” wall cloud and lowering over fieldWall cloud and rotating lowering (at left) over York NEOur last view of the storm before it became rain-wrapped and we lost sight of it. A tornado was reported shortly after this by another onlook…
Yet another late night which will be followed by an early morning tomorrow as we overnight here in Walnut Iowa. Our original target for today was to be southeastern Kansas and we actually motored south from Salina this morning until a new Storm P…
I can’t begin to describe in any details what we saw today, but awesome doesn’t even come close. Here are a few of the pertinent events:(1) For the third day in a row the student forecasters put us in a severe watch area several hours BEFORE the …
