4/14/07 REPORTS: MS/AL/GA/SC/FL/NC

[Terry Tyler]

first storm 'chase' in a while...there was a big story behind the chase and how i was able to do it, but it didnt amount to much...

i didnt get much sleep last night with all the storms around...i went to bed around 12 and woke up at 4 something...actually there were 2 chases today...

the first chase was local...there were SVR warnings out for pontotoc and lee counties quoting a storm with 3/4 inch hail and 60 mph winds...i patrolled the warning area looking for something, but all i saw was alot of lightning and heavy rain...this was at like 530AM...before the sun come up...

the second chase target was going to be in west point...but, i didnt have any money for gas, and time was very critical since the storms were pushing north-east at a very high rate of speed...

the thing about mid-south storms is fast storm motion and lousy terrain...

so i drove my girlfreind to work at 8am, and took her truck, and it was empty on gas...now, i always target a public library, because i know it is almost impossible to score a hit without some kind of intel on the storms...i had to pawn my 800 watt amp and my subwoofer box to get the money for the gas, but the pawn shop didnt open till 9AM...when the storms were coming into GWX and west point, it was too late...i pawned the box, and filled the tank and anxiously awaited anything to develop in a 100 mile radius...

there was one more severe cell coming out of columbus, and i plotted it going east of hamilton, AL...so i got on 363, speeding all the way to peppertown, got on 78 east, and set the cruise to 85...

you could see nothing out there at all...it was raining, and there was a stratus layer not 500 feet above the ground...i made it into hamilton and it was pouring rain...i got lost in the city, went down a one-way street and asked locals for the library...they led me on a 15 minute goose chase, and i never found the library...i kept driving and eventually called off the chase when i met up with 78 again...it was a good thing too, because when i got home and looked at the radar at the time of where i was...there was absolutely nothing...but i timed it right...so it was cool...

got me 107 new chase miles and some new experience...ill have photos and video up later, but its nothing spectaular...

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

I was not sure to place this in this thread or put it in a new one (I guess here is OK) - This was a small thunderstorm that blew through Dayton, Ohio less than an hour ago dropping pea to dime sized hail, in a region on the back-side of the low in between light rain and snow with temps in the 30's.

The picture above is the ground just outside my apartment in northern Dayton, OH when a "suprise" thunderstorm with small hail from 1/4" to 1/2" passed through the area.

 

[mrobinett]

I cannot believe I drove the whole way. That sums up my chase day. I left a little late and met with Paul and Mark Austin in Dothan, AL. We reaally didnt want to hit the front head-on as it came from MS or as it hit Montgomery, we decided instead to wait for storms to fire before the path of the front, which they did, very rapidly and each died off before we could get to them. I had enough and wanted to get back home before too late, TEAM Austin decided to stick around for the front, Ill let Paul post his report. They really do have better luck AFTER dark, I told them they need night vision equipment.
I did learn the chase van needs a few things changed before I do this again this year, like a radiator flush, plugs, wires....

Mike

 

[Brett Adair]

We intercepted the tornado warned storm in Bullock County, AL that developed just NE of Troy after 4:10 PM CDT. This storm went into rotation rapidly and developed the structure of an HP supercell as it treked NE. We sat in Union Springs at the Intersection of AL-223/US-82 and videoed a very well developed and rapidly rotating large wall cloud as the storm really intensified. The striations were amazing as we watched some funnels begin to drop out....some of which were rather large in nature. We will try to get some video online very shortly.

 

[Ken Hughey]

I targeted the area between Montgomery and Birmingham. I left Atlanta and arrived in Montgomery around 11am. I had spoken to Steve Carter, from SC and also spoke to Brett Adair to discuss target areas. At this point the warm front crossed the general area of Montgomery, so I figured I would watch for development that might fire along the warm front. Unfortunately most of the activity was focused around a large cluster of storms located to the SW of Montgomery (just entered Alabama). These cells were Severe Thunderstorm warned, but no tornado warnings and the rotation signatures were not that impressive.

I was sitting in the UAM parking lot and noticed distinct mammantus clouds overhead and started to get sporadic cloud to ground and cloud to cloud lightning. I’m looking at the radar and there are no cells (producing rain at least) anywhere near my location (something I’ve never seen before). I guess this was an indication of the instability of the general area. At this point I was trying to decide whether to maneuver for an intercept of that cluster as it approached Montgomery, or instead move back to the SE towards Georgia for possible development or last but not least proceed further to the NE and hang out along the retreating warm front.

As I was weighing my options, the supercell SW of Montgomery went Tornado warned.
I decided to move south and try for a “quick” intercept of this cell. At this point I had moved to a location near Tuskegee AL. The best intercept route was south along AL 29, towards Union Springs in Bullock County. I knew that the further south I moved, the more likelihood I would loose my cell connection to radar data. Before I lost my data, I realized from looking at the GRLevel3 track, that the storm had started to become a right mover. This made my southward trek a bit more risky, since it might cut me off before I could get to Union Springs and proceed East out of town. I decided to risk it and I beat the storm to Union Springs. This was one of the first times I actually used my portable B&W television (that I always carry on chases) to watch some of the Montgomery TV coverage of the storm approaching me. Within minutes of arriving in Union Springs, a tornado warning was issued for NW Bullock. It was strange, because the TV met indicated that the sirens in Union Springs would be going off soon, but as I sat there in a grocery store parking lot, silence. People were going about there normal lives as if nothing was happening. I came to find out that the sirens had been knocked out in the Wed storm earlier in the week.

I stayed there as long as I felt it was safe, observed some scud and lightning, but nothing too exciting. Since my reception was scratchy at best on the portable TV and I had lost my live GR feed, I opted to evacuate a bit further East/NorthEast for safety sake and try to reacquire radar data. I setup a few miles north of Hwy 82, along Hwy 51. I reacquired radar data at that point, and to my surprise, I saw the storm spotter network icon for Matt Grantham. He was only a few miles to the south of my location, moving towards me. I ended up linking up with Matt, Brett and Fred to the NE of Union Springs. As we were stopped to reassess the storm motions, we’re standing outside and we look up to notice the clouds rapidly streaming from the East to the West, then Southwest. We’re standing under the edge of a massive wall cloud. Ouch…Matt yelled something about the strength of the sheer above our heads and it was quickly decided to evacuate further east, then south to try for a future intercept of the same storm.

[FONT=&quot]To make a long story short, we ran out of daylight and the storm became very “tornadic looking” on radar, so an intercept at night was too dangerous. All in all it was a very interesting day and worth the trip.[/FONT]

 

[SteveCarter]

A couple words sums it up for me....HP. What an aggravating chase! three times I was in tornado-warned counties, with sirens going off once, and WAKA TV was pinpointing where the rotation was, and i was within 6 miles of there, and what did i see? Absolutely nothing but torrential rain. I was Union Springs, AL (3x), and the storms WERE rotating according to radar, and looked impressive, but they were all embedded. Ken H. and I communicated quite often, and it seemed like we always agreed...we didn't know WHERE to go...LOL. These cells were popping up SO QUICKLY that if you weren't already within 30 miles, forget it. I decided to leave Union Springs JUST before Ken and Brett got there, (I'm bad), so I did miss that one. All in all....I would have to say that it was a wasted trip for me, but still....it just got me stoked for the next one. (SAT?) I HATE those HP cells!!! And the terrain was not that good either, with NO cellular connections south of I-85.