Terry Tyler
EF5
Today turned out alot better then i thought it would. That front really stalled out overnight and allowed partially clear skies for most of the day. MLCAPEs were in the 500-1000j/kg range with 0-1km helicities starting at 350m2/s2. Initially i stayed in Saltillo waiting to see what the storms were going to be doing. The storms were really starting to look intense on the radar. Lots of discreet activity, lots of small bows and lewps. I was tracking a storm coming out of pontotoc moving NE towards new albany. At the time, it looked pretty intimidating with strong velocity signatures. None of the storms had a warning, so i watched a few more scans, and then i took off north to the storms. Soon, a pair of severe warnings were issued. It was struggling, you could tell. It had some moments where it looked like it had a little notch, or a couplet on radar, but overall it looked disorganized. I wound up going to get close to the storms where i thought i could get a good view, but it was nothing but trees you couldent make anything out.
Before long, the southern most cluser got a warning and started to bow out. It looked a little bit better then the one i was on. I decided it was time to head south, and get east before the line over ran me. This is the view of the severe warned storm with a shelf cloud on it.
Later on, i got on another severe warned cell that had a pretty good hook going on it for a while. It was earlier warned down in the Aberdeen area, but maintained only severe warnings up through my area. Heres a radar image of the hook. You can see, it looked almost identical to the 10/09 Houston-Okolona, MS storm. It was like a quasi-linear cluster with a hook on the leading edge, i guess i dont know how to put it.
I just kind of sat there and waited on it, when it got into view i took some pictures. There wasnt anyting too exciting with this storm other then the hook on the radar picture. The storm was about low topped; 25,000-35,000ft tall without any lightning. It was moving extremely fast, and didnt have any hail in it that i could tell.
I put in the picture with the radar overlayed. Looks like you can see a clear slot and some kind of wrapping going on like what you would see on a hook. Compare the shape to the shape of those clouds, and youll see its the real thing. I guess that 'ball' of clouds and precip was the hook. I would have got on the tornado warned storms outside of Guin if i decided to stick around. I decided it was best to go home because i didnt want to spend too much on this one or risk going too far, the car has been acting up bad after the last chase. The last thing i would want is to have a repeat of last times nightmare.
I followed the storms into Alabama near Hamiltion. I waited about a half hour then i decided to go.
It seemed like alot of the storms yesterday had severe rotation in the clouds, but there hasnt been any ground confirmation at this time on tornadoes. It seems to me that these storms had the potential to be very bad, but didnt. I have alot higher-quality photos, radar images and a full account HERE.
Before long, the southern most cluser got a warning and started to bow out. It looked a little bit better then the one i was on. I decided it was time to head south, and get east before the line over ran me. This is the view of the severe warned storm with a shelf cloud on it.
Later on, i got on another severe warned cell that had a pretty good hook going on it for a while. It was earlier warned down in the Aberdeen area, but maintained only severe warnings up through my area. Heres a radar image of the hook. You can see, it looked almost identical to the 10/09 Houston-Okolona, MS storm. It was like a quasi-linear cluster with a hook on the leading edge, i guess i dont know how to put it.
I just kind of sat there and waited on it, when it got into view i took some pictures. There wasnt anyting too exciting with this storm other then the hook on the radar picture. The storm was about low topped; 25,000-35,000ft tall without any lightning. It was moving extremely fast, and didnt have any hail in it that i could tell.
I put in the picture with the radar overlayed. Looks like you can see a clear slot and some kind of wrapping going on like what you would see on a hook. Compare the shape to the shape of those clouds, and youll see its the real thing. I guess that 'ball' of clouds and precip was the hook. I would have got on the tornado warned storms outside of Guin if i decided to stick around. I decided it was best to go home because i didnt want to spend too much on this one or risk going too far, the car has been acting up bad after the last chase. The last thing i would want is to have a repeat of last times nightmare.
I followed the storms into Alabama near Hamiltion. I waited about a half hour then i decided to go.
It seemed like alot of the storms yesterday had severe rotation in the clouds, but there hasnt been any ground confirmation at this time on tornadoes. It seems to me that these storms had the potential to be very bad, but didnt. I have alot higher-quality photos, radar images and a full account HERE.
