As has happened during a number of past Independence Days Nature provided her own fireworks Friday just as our cookout with friends and family was in full swing. The chicken and hot dogs were done just in time to avoid the downpour, and in the meant…

It took a lot longer than I realized it would to select, edit, and post these pictures. I had a hard time choosing the ones I wanted from the several dozen snapshots I took during yesterday’s chase of a shelf cloud near sunset. The coloration was awe…

Really, I had no intentions of chasing today. After yesterday’s bust I intended to spend a quiet evening at home, taking a walk, watering the flowers, and generally taking it easy. Then, I checked the radar…and after a very quick internal debate …

Even tho’ the SPC has been outlooking our region for severe weather for several days now, and even tho’ a severe TS watch was issued for our entire area this afternoon and evening, my son and I just completed a major bust of a storm chase. We started …

I thought we might luck out and get a cell or two worth viewing this evening but the Northern VA radar remains stubbornly clear. However, given the SPC Day 3 (Saturday) and Day 4 (Sunday) convective projections it appears that the likelihood of a ch…

Given that we were under yet another SPC-issued slight risk for severe weather today I kept a close eye on the convective situation and the associated pre-frontal trough. I was able to leave work a bit early and ran by the house to change, grab the ch…

As I mentioned in the previous post we traveled to Hokieland USA this weekend to catch up with some old friends. It’s always amazing how many memories are dredged up when we finally see the campus and the mountainous backdrop. We had a great time upd…

Today was not on the chasing agenda as we were out of town for a reunion in Blacksburg and I wasn’t interested in hopping back behind the wheel after several hours in that position. Thus I dutifully ignored a cell building just to the east of our hous…

With another day under an upper level cold pool I could see updrafts struggling to rise as I headed home from work, but I really didn’t plan to chase anything. However after dinner I noticed the sunlight dimming significantly and stepped outside to se…

I started out this evening taking pictures of some of the updrafts in the area being highlighted by the westering sun.I was also intrigued by a couple of cells backlit by the setting sun.After I noticed a storm blossoming on radar just to the west I sn…