Drew.Gardonia
Adam Reagan and I left Murfreesboro, TN around 7:30 AM for Tupelo, MS. That was our initial target area but after arriving there and consulting Wes Carter, and checking the SPC, which had just issued a watch for Central Alabama from east to west stateliness. Hauled the mail back towards Birmingham and intercepted a cell that was starting to hook near Jasper, AL (Walker County) at around 2:28 PM. The cell weakened and failed to produce anything notable.
We continued on to Birmingham where we proceeded south to Exit 228, and rendezvoud with Wes Carter to intercept a severe warned cell that was reported to have produced a funnel. Witnessed a nice wall cloud at the intersection of I-65 and Exit 228 in Calera, AL with moderate rotation, we photographed and filmed the wall cloud for several minutes before pursuing it to the East. We halted on a side road, as the wall cloud seemed to intensify, and video recorded once again, then pursued till the storm was out of reach and watched as it made it’s way east towards Georgia. This wall cloud tried like crazy to put one down, but “I” didn’t see anything conclusive to say I saw an actual funnel or a tornado.
Hi-Def Video of the First Wall Cloud (Intersection of I-65 and Exit 228)
Watch video >
Now there is some debate amongst the three of us as to whether or not we saw a funnel/tornado. After we pursued the wall cloud, we pulled off to the side of a back road and watched it for a minute (see video below:) Wes noticed what appeared to be a cone shaped object to the left. The base was obstructed by trees, so we could not verify if it was indeed on the ground, but it does appear to at least be a funnel. It looked that way to me, and that’s what I said in my video, but after seeing the video, I wish I had said “funnel” instead of tornado, because I can’t verify it was indeed on the ground, and I could not see a debris cloud on the ground, therefore to my knowledge it didn’t meet NWS criteria to be categorized as such.
Watch video >
This is an image my chase partner Adam Reagan took, look to the left of center, there appears to be a cone shaped funnel, that is well defined protruding from the wall cloud, but it's obstructed by the trees, and you can not see a debris cloud on the ground (so in MY standards, it didn't meet NWS Criteria of being on the ground and/or visible debris cloud, so it's not a tornado from this perspective, but it may very well have been a funnel, but like I said, it's debatable).
Regrouped back at I-65 and Exit 228, and then Wes Carter made the decision to go North back towards Huntsville. 30 minutes down the road, Wes was rewarded when the SPC issued a Mesoscale Discussion (and called for a watch to be issued shortly therafter), and then 20 minutes following that the SPC issued a Watch for the Northern portions of Alabama. On the drive back up 65, Adam and I both took several photos of the storms building to the west and the storms fleeing to the east.
Proceeded to intercept a supercell near Athens, but oddly enough this one wasn’t severe warned, but produced heavy rains, nickel size hail, intense lightning and some pretty strong wind gusts. After that, we decided to call it a day, and headed for the barn. Pulled in to Murfreesboro at about 9:20 pm
14 hours of driving, 730 miles, 2 ½ tanks of gas, 3 intercepts, 1 rotating wall cloud, 2 great friends, and a heck of a lot of fun later, we made it home, but one heck of a fun filled day!
I'm quite please with the structure of these storms and how photogenic they were, made for a great day, and got my adrenaline pumping!
all of the pictures are available here (as well as Full Size Hi-Def 1920x1080 videos)
http://drewgphotography.smugmug.com/Weather/StormChase32611/16357311_tXVVM
We continued on to Birmingham where we proceeded south to Exit 228, and rendezvoud with Wes Carter to intercept a severe warned cell that was reported to have produced a funnel. Witnessed a nice wall cloud at the intersection of I-65 and Exit 228 in Calera, AL with moderate rotation, we photographed and filmed the wall cloud for several minutes before pursuing it to the East. We halted on a side road, as the wall cloud seemed to intensify, and video recorded once again, then pursued till the storm was out of reach and watched as it made it’s way east towards Georgia. This wall cloud tried like crazy to put one down, but “I” didn’t see anything conclusive to say I saw an actual funnel or a tornado.
Hi-Def Video of the First Wall Cloud (Intersection of I-65 and Exit 228)
Watch video >
Now there is some debate amongst the three of us as to whether or not we saw a funnel/tornado. After we pursued the wall cloud, we pulled off to the side of a back road and watched it for a minute (see video below:) Wes noticed what appeared to be a cone shaped object to the left. The base was obstructed by trees, so we could not verify if it was indeed on the ground, but it does appear to at least be a funnel. It looked that way to me, and that’s what I said in my video, but after seeing the video, I wish I had said “funnel” instead of tornado, because I can’t verify it was indeed on the ground, and I could not see a debris cloud on the ground, therefore to my knowledge it didn’t meet NWS criteria to be categorized as such.
Watch video >
This is an image my chase partner Adam Reagan took, look to the left of center, there appears to be a cone shaped funnel, that is well defined protruding from the wall cloud, but it's obstructed by the trees, and you can not see a debris cloud on the ground (so in MY standards, it didn't meet NWS Criteria of being on the ground and/or visible debris cloud, so it's not a tornado from this perspective, but it may very well have been a funnel, but like I said, it's debatable).
Regrouped back at I-65 and Exit 228, and then Wes Carter made the decision to go North back towards Huntsville. 30 minutes down the road, Wes was rewarded when the SPC issued a Mesoscale Discussion (and called for a watch to be issued shortly therafter), and then 20 minutes following that the SPC issued a Watch for the Northern portions of Alabama. On the drive back up 65, Adam and I both took several photos of the storms building to the west and the storms fleeing to the east.
Proceeded to intercept a supercell near Athens, but oddly enough this one wasn’t severe warned, but produced heavy rains, nickel size hail, intense lightning and some pretty strong wind gusts. After that, we decided to call it a day, and headed for the barn. Pulled in to Murfreesboro at about 9:20 pm
14 hours of driving, 730 miles, 2 ½ tanks of gas, 3 intercepts, 1 rotating wall cloud, 2 great friends, and a heck of a lot of fun later, we made it home, but one heck of a fun filled day!
I'm quite please with the structure of these storms and how photogenic they were, made for a great day, and got my adrenaline pumping!
all of the pictures are available here (as well as Full Size Hi-Def 1920x1080 videos)
http://drewgphotography.smugmug.com/Weather/StormChase32611/16357311_tXVVM
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