2017-05-04 REPORTS: WA, OR

[Michael Snyder]

Thought I would share a few pictures from what was probably the most active convective day in at least 30 years in the Pacific Northwest.
May 4th started off as a foggy, muggy morning, as the trajectory of the air that took residence over Western WA/OR was from the subtropics/Hawaii. Dew Points were in the lower 60s, something that in itself is very rare for the Seattle area. Temperatures reached into the mid 70s and soon you could see convection develop over the Oregon coast and start its trek north. It didn't take long as the Lightning and thunder started at about 245pm Seattle time, and as of 3am this morning huge shots of thunder were still going strong.
All in all we had
5 rounds of convection, the second round was the strongest and was associated with the storm that brought significant wind damage to the Olympia area. It is this storm that then weakened a slight bit and then moved almost directly over my house in Normandy Park WA. that I got some of the best photos of the day. Seeing shelf clouds and supercell structure is something that Ill probably go several years at least before seeing here again.
All in all it was a very fun" home" storm chase.

 

[Michael Snyder]

 

[R R Smith]

I chased the southern portion of the Marginal Risk this past Thursday in northern California and southern Oregon. There were several warned storms in our area including one tornado warning which occurred in the Cascades between Medford and Klamath Falls, Oregon.

This was an unusually juicy setup for this area with CAPE in the 1500-2000 range and 40 knots bulks shear. Here are some images of one of the severe warned supercell which moved through Scott Valley in Siskiyou County, California. This storm had a nice tilted updraft, rounded base and a persistent wall cloud. This is tough country to chase and even more challenging when it comes to capturing decent images. I was along Interstate 5 just north of Yreka, California looking west - about 8-10 miles distant.