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.
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.
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