Robert Dewey
EF5
Chased here in MI today, and seen some pretty interesting stuff in northern Oakland and Macomb counties.
Started off towards Romeo at around 1:45pm, with some really dark clouds to the northwest (storm developed south of the Flint storm). As I headed north, I seen what appeared to be a weakley organized wall cloud, so I pulled off onto a sidestreet. The wall cloud was weakly rotating, and passed directly overhead, producing a sound similar to that of water being sucked up (wierd). This cought me off guard, and the winds started up, so I jumped back into the car, just as large tree branches started coming off trees and some trees being uprooted with winds that I estimate to be around 80mph. I then headed back outta the storm to the east, near Richmond in Macomb county, but by this time, the wall cloud had disapeared. It took me about 10-15 minutes to get back outta the slow moving storm, which temps went from a rain cooled 68F to a hot/humid haze of 85F. The region I chose ahead of the storm for the second time was a dirt road along a rather clear area of farmland. In the distance, I could see the wind picking up dirt/dust, and sweeping rain across the field about 4 miles away (to the south/southeast of me), blowing into the town of Richmond. The depth of the dirt/dust was amazing, I would estimate it to be at least 500-800ft deep, and about 5-6 miles ahead of the storm (storm was obviously collapsing)! I could also see numerous trees bending to their limits, with a few small spinups/gustnadoes (no tornadic stuff), as the winds were completely straight-lined at that time. I had no choice but to punch through this area, where I encountered winds of about 80mph-90mph, which is probably the most intense winds I have ever encountered to this date. Winds were strong enough to tilt power poles slightly, down numerous trees, and throw all the construction barrels/signs around, and push small flagpoles over (as I headed towards the town of Richmond), all beneath my eyes. Never encountered any hail, since freezing levels were so high (Rob Dale mentioned this), so I don't see why the NWS put a warning out for golfball sized hail in Oakland county, didn't even see pea sized.
When I got home (since I don't have mobile internet or a cell phone), I checked the radar for the location I was at, for 18Z (the time I seen the wall cloud), and sure enought, I could see what appeared to be a mini-hook echo which lasted about 2 or 3 images (10-15 minutes), not worth a tornado warning. I will post these images a bit later...
[Broken External Image]:http://waveformpc.com/images/RADAR_ZOOM.GIF
Robert
Started off towards Romeo at around 1:45pm, with some really dark clouds to the northwest (storm developed south of the Flint storm). As I headed north, I seen what appeared to be a weakley organized wall cloud, so I pulled off onto a sidestreet. The wall cloud was weakly rotating, and passed directly overhead, producing a sound similar to that of water being sucked up (wierd). This cought me off guard, and the winds started up, so I jumped back into the car, just as large tree branches started coming off trees and some trees being uprooted with winds that I estimate to be around 80mph. I then headed back outta the storm to the east, near Richmond in Macomb county, but by this time, the wall cloud had disapeared. It took me about 10-15 minutes to get back outta the slow moving storm, which temps went from a rain cooled 68F to a hot/humid haze of 85F. The region I chose ahead of the storm for the second time was a dirt road along a rather clear area of farmland. In the distance, I could see the wind picking up dirt/dust, and sweeping rain across the field about 4 miles away (to the south/southeast of me), blowing into the town of Richmond. The depth of the dirt/dust was amazing, I would estimate it to be at least 500-800ft deep, and about 5-6 miles ahead of the storm (storm was obviously collapsing)! I could also see numerous trees bending to their limits, with a few small spinups/gustnadoes (no tornadic stuff), as the winds were completely straight-lined at that time. I had no choice but to punch through this area, where I encountered winds of about 80mph-90mph, which is probably the most intense winds I have ever encountered to this date. Winds were strong enough to tilt power poles slightly, down numerous trees, and throw all the construction barrels/signs around, and push small flagpoles over (as I headed towards the town of Richmond), all beneath my eyes. Never encountered any hail, since freezing levels were so high (Rob Dale mentioned this), so I don't see why the NWS put a warning out for golfball sized hail in Oakland county, didn't even see pea sized.
When I got home (since I don't have mobile internet or a cell phone), I checked the radar for the location I was at, for 18Z (the time I seen the wall cloud), and sure enought, I could see what appeared to be a mini-hook echo which lasted about 2 or 3 images (10-15 minutes), not worth a tornado warning. I will post these images a bit later...
[Broken External Image]:http://waveformpc.com/images/RADAR_ZOOM.GIF
Robert
