Word has filtered down via social media that the May 31st El Reno tornado (the one in which Tim Samaras and his TWISTEX crew plus local OKC residents were killed) has been officially downgraded from an EF-5 to an EF-3. Having been chasing another…
With a cold front was pressing south and east across Virginia I knew Friday 8/23 held potential for decent chase conditions but I was constrained in time – and thus range – by plans we already had in place for dinner guests. When a very nice cell…
The models didn’t show much shear today and the instability looked marginal but enough storms fired this afternoon to make things interesting. In fact the SPC issued a mesoscale discussion that covered SW Virginia so I had my eye on things early….
Amid a quiet interval between storminess I poked back through photos of chases earlier this month and decided this was worth posting:I snapped this still photo of the feature within the white oval at the same time my fixed videocamera was recording (se…
Given the juicy air in place today the approach of a strong cold front gave rise to hope for some good chasing, and it was a busy afternoon. However the frustration level was high as I managed to get into good position on three out of four storms…
This video clip – sped up 8x – was taken 5 miles NW of Halifax VA looking eastward about 4:15 pm yesterday, Saturday 8/10/13. This was the third wall cloud we witnessed during this chase, and the only reason we were able to get close enough to ph…
That’s the tally for today, which I thought might be a decent chase day given the instability, shear, and moisture available ahead of a cold front pressing in from the northwest. After a mesoscale discussion (MD) was issued today’s chasing deal w…
Given the heat and humidity available today storms were inevitable, and I saw evidence of it when I checked radar at 1:45 pm while in the Charlottesville vicinity. Noticing a nice complex near Roanoke that was moving eastward I had hopes I could …
Really, I was going to chase a cell just east of the Blue Ridge crest that exhibited rotation on radar. It was creeping slowly northeastward toward the Montvale / Bedford corridor so I rolled down the driveway to head in that direction…before I…
I kept a close watch on weather conditions and the radar yesterday – Tuesday Aug 6th – and wound up chasing a good storm as a result. Neither the SPC or the local Blacksburg NWS office offered hope of severe thunderstorms yesterday but curiously …
