01/02/06 REPORTS: Eastern US

[Carla Bisby]

Well I certainly didn’t think I’d be starting out 2006 with a January 2nd chase but that’s just what I did from 3-6 am this morning as some tornadic storms rolled through the STL greater metro area. I chose to go after the northern storm moving through St. Charles and Lincoln counties but was unable to intercept it as it moved into Calhoun county, IL due to the MS river. I could have taken a detour and tried to intercept in Jersey county but I didn’t think I’d have time to do that and make it home in time to shower and get to work this morning (ugh). So I just drooled over the beautiful updraft tower on the storm as I watched it fade into the distance and then watched the light show for a few hours as more storms came through. Didn’t see any significant hail…just pea sized. I know at least St. Charles county, Lincoln county, St. Louis county, St. Louis city, and Jersey county were all under tor warnings, not sure of any others around here. I like 2006 already.

 

[Scott Bell]

Yep, I got to see those as well

I was leaving StL around 2:30 headed west and was seeing the intense lightening and the ominous looking clouds up ahead (warren, Franklin CO). Of course I didn't have a scanner with me, so I was station jumping on the radio trying to find out more details. One station did announce a tor warning for Warren CO as I was just entering, but offered no additional details. I finally found a truck stop with a scanner and showed them how to get NWS information....they were surprised there was a tornado warning! I decided it wasn't a great idea to try and circle behind for a chase since I was a long way from home so I darted on west before the storms crossed I-70. I did stop a few times to enjoy the lightening display. Glad that somebody got to give them a chase. A great (and surprising) way to start 2006!!!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Didn't think I'd be creating a 2006 folder on my web site so early! Here are a couple grabs from the show last night in Charleston, WV:

 

[Jason Montano]

Well I just got back from a nice short chase. I spent the day watching the grunge in S GA not wanting to try and chase thru that mess. Then around 4pm I saw a line of isolated supercells building from E of ATL WSWd into AL. I decided to head N and intercept what was then the tail end charlie. I intercepted this cell S of LaGrange and followed it to the east.

I saw some slight rotation with this tornado warned cell but I believe I was on the back side of it and the meso was rainwrapped b/c I did not see the tornado reported in Holldenville. I did see a couple nice sups and some quarter sized hail which I will take for a chase on January 2nd. Shortly after sunset around Griffin, GA I broke off from the cell and wathced it speed away to the E with a beautiful light show.

I will take a look at my photos and see if there are any worth posting as I was driving the entire time I'm not sure any will be good.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

From Andrew Kahn:

Around 8:00 PM EDT I decided to go out on a chase for some lightning and possibly hail. I started out around NE Washington County, TN and headed toward Hamblen/Green Counties, TN. Once I got there, there was a quite high winds around, and it disrupted some of my photography. I saw a anvil that was illuminated by the lightning and a huge cumulonimbus in the sky. On the drive back I stopped and was able to get some more lightning stills.

First shot, near the edge of Green County.

On the way back...3 strokes at the same time.

Nice Stakota

Diagonal Strike

Last Shot

It was an okay day actually...I have not seen a thunderstorm in about 2 months...so something is better than nothing!

 

[Simon Brewer]

This is late, and also not worth noting, but I'm bored:

I was visiting family over the holidays in Dayton, OH, so this chase was pretty close to home for me, but I still had problems:

I was sick; it was extremely difficult to get sleep the night before, so I woke up incredibly late (~11am). I wanted to get up and be on the road for Louisville by 7am (my target area the was an area of western Kentucky between Louisville and Bowling Green, but waking up incredibly late changes things).

Well, I checked out the setup and was on the road by 11:30am; couldn't go to my original target in Kentucky in time, so I settled for southern Indiana. Cloud cover cleared for a short time and isolated storms periodically formed, but would quickly be taken out by the weak squall-line, which chugged its way across Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

I witnessed a short-lived very small (tiny) cell SW of Columbus, IN, but a shelf cloud quickly appeared to the west of the cell and "took it out". The cloud cover increased over Southern Indiana after that event and the sun was getting low in the sky, so I hauled it back to Dayton in time to watch the end of the first quarter of the beating Notre Dame took from Ohio St. in the Fiesta Bowl. Go Buckeyes!