10/27/2010 REPORTS: NC/VA/MD

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

Today was probably my best NC chase yet but I was still just short of actually seeing a tornado. The parameters looked best north of Raleigh so I headed in that direction out of my home in Southern Pines (About 100 miles). I picked up chase partner Kevin Smith while passing through the City of Oaks. It was around 4:30pm and at this point and the first cell was being tornado warned in our target area.

We knew we would miss this first cell due to how far behind it we already were and the fact that we had to get out of Raleigh at the approaching rush hour. We headed north anyway with the hopes of new development. We really thought we would bust but that did not end up being the case (if your goal was just too see a supercell). We stopped at exit 213 on I-85 (Granville/Vance County line area) and linked up with Ryan Rogers who actually did witness the wall cloud / meso produced on that initial storm. He jumped in our car and we continued.

When we met up with Ryan our hopes for a second cell came alive and it we were ahead of our tornado warned supercell. We were getting reports that the couplet was strengthening and that our position was solid. We knew we had limited daylight as it was now after 6pm and we knew we had to be dead on it with the high forward speed.

We finally got our first glimpse of rotation at Tabbs Creek Rd. and 158 near Oxford (Northern Granville county). The rotation was visible along with some striation in the clouds above a well defined shelf (6:26pm). We got a very brief glimpse in a plowed field before deciding we had to head ENE to keep up with it.

At around 6:40pm we were back closer to Henderson and found a hill with somewhat of a vantage point just north of 158 at Ross Mill Rd. and Industry Dr. (Vance County). This is where observed the wall cloud / meso with a clear edge to it on the left side. We also noticed another curious feature to its left which we couldn't positively identify. It is in a couple of the pics below.

Finally we chased until it became completely dark up I-85. Just 5 minutes before 7pm we witnessed power flashes as we were passing the 217 mile marker. Based on LSR's and damage reports and where the meso was this could have actually been the tornado on the ground just a couple of miles ahead of us.

We pretty much nailed as best as anyone could but we lost the daylight and that got us in the end so we called it off in Warren County. None the less it was a reasonable success and I am happy after what was previously a dead year in this part of the country overall.

Pics:

Striations and visible rotation seen

Left edge of the wall cloud

Left edge of the wall with interesting feature to its left

Wrapping into the meso behind some rain

new lowering right before dark

One more of the feature we were not sure of.

 

[RRogers]

Jungle chase

I was able to get to the target area a bit earlier than Jeremy and thus was able to catch a cell moving ENE/NE at ~35 mph along hwy 158/I-85 between about 4:15 and 5:30pm. This cell was characterized by roughly 20 minute cycles of tightening up and gusting out. The day light was obviously better at this time but the camera I had available was pretty poor and the trees were frustrating ALL day. Here are a few pictures I was able to capture around 5:15


This is my first good glimpse of the wall cloud through the jungle.


This is taken just before rain curtains wrap in from the west. Rotation was clearly visible now but moderate at best.


Base velocity at the time of the wall cloud.


Rain starting to obscure the view


This is a panorama taken after the best lowering was obscured.

 

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

These are some radar shots with our approximate first location plotted at the time these scans were taken:

 

[michaelmcqueen]

i too was on that same cell but when it was about 2 counties further west. i met up with it just west of Reidsville, NC on highway 158 around 3:15pm.

here's my shot coming up highway 29

at the time of this photo NWS was reporting tornado vortex signature on radar. i monitored it from the south as it went eastward but eventually the road i was in took my right into it. after that i ended up going through the core of it coming out on the back side and shot this photo

after that the storm was a bit too far ahead of my for me to catch back up and get ahead of it so i headed home around 3:50pm.

 

[Jeremy Gilchrist]

Just as a quick update the NWS did confirm that the second cell (The one I chased with Kevin an Ryan) did in fact have a tornado touchdown when were chasing it up I-85 as it became completely dark. This is when we saw the power flashes as we passed Exit 217. This means we were within 2-3 miles of the funnel and may have seen it had there been any daylight remaining! We could not have been better positioned. For me I am happy because this was my first NC Supercell

Michael I am thinking you were on the first superell that I missed but Ryan caught then given your time stamps.

 

[Bill Hark]

Mods, please add Virginia to this thread.

Here is my chase report of the tornadic storm that passed direcly over my hometown, Richmond, Virginia.

http://www.harkphoto.com/10272010.html

Bill Hark

 

[Jason Foster]

Can also add Maryland (MD) to the list
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Mark Ellinwood and I headed out (Gaithersburg, MD) after he got off work and we quick started south as Central VA was our impression for a good target. However, we were departing in rain and I was rather pessimistic about chasing....I think partly because of the bad call of the previous day's chase in WV, rather than sticking with Ohio. We headed south and were just about to get on I-95 south (from the DC beltway) when dynamics looked a little better in the Delmarva (Delaware Maryland Virgina side of the Chesapeake Bay). We made our way back up to Rt. 50 and headed east past Annapolis and across the Chesapeake Bay and continued east, finally emerging from the line. We pretty much headed ESE and then SE into Delaware where we did see nice base structure and shelf cloud. Since this area is tons better to chase in than central and SE VA we did manage to keep in front of the cells. However, they never produced and we were toward the end of the main chase heard of the TOR reports coming in for VA around the Richmond area (arrrggggg...that was our initial target).

We did...as a last bit of hope....wait for the tornado producing cell that was in the King George County, VA and S.MD areas to cross the bay, but by that time the storm had a high base and was no longer significant.

This was the third of three chase days in a row for the area...didn't do that all season. The action on Tuesday was part of the line that had been spawned from the Indiana storms earlier, which was part of the system that bombed out up north. I think that contributed to SPCs 10% risk...and why this chase was required.

Interestingly....like Bill, I had issues with getting data...but mine was because my main chase laptop (an HP) had a power cord failure. I didn't have DeLorme, GR, and SN wouldn't configure to show our location (didn't need that for chasing though). There also wasn't a means for me to stream video.

 

[Mark Ellinwood]

These pictures and screen grabs go with Jason's description above. All were taken on the Delmarva peninsula.

Storm #1 that went through during early/mid afternoon. Facing W/SW. Not sure if that was a wall cloud at the bottom-right of the first image, but it did line up with the very weak embedded couplet on the radar. Looked like scud to me...

Storm #2 that produced a tornado in VA/MD but didn't keep its intensity over the Chesapeake Bay. Facing N. Non-rotating wall cloud in the middle.