Chasing Tornadoes in Rita's Spiral Bands

[Dave Carroll]

mini-supercells in tropical systems

...Yeah, I can concur with Kevin on positioning oneself in a favorable place and waiting for the cells to roll over you. In Ivan last year (not able to chase in that one) and Cindy this summer, it was fairly easy to judge a general area where a band would set up. Individual cells typically move rapidly, and many of them has some degree of rain between cells, so lots of times you find yourself traversing low-vis conditions just getting to a storm. I did manage to catch a nice cell in Yadkin Co. NC this summer, but found myself on the western side of a rain-wrapped circulation. Kevin actually helped guide us thru the mess, and once we exited to the east we did catch a very low rotating wall cloud. Lots of rain, and no picts this time though. -Dave

 

[SteveCarter]

I mentioned this earlier, but it's so important, I'm mentioning it again. You REALLY need a great radar connection when chasing these bands. Things move so fast, that you really can't count on just hearing about it when it's happening. You need to be there AHEAD of time. And it's DEFINATELY worth it. Don't expect hail. or even lightning. Expect AWESOME cloud displays, and a pretty good chance of seeing something worthwhile if you go. And be prepared to change your plans at any given moment, like I'm doing now. I was going up towards Springfield, Mo, but now......that seems to far North AND to far West. Try Lake Charles, LA towards Jonesboro, Ark. Just my opinion.

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

I havent read every messages in this thread thoroughly, so someone may have covered this before me.. and maybe better than me..

But in reading a few of these posts I'm not sure some of you realise how nearly impossible it is chasing these things. Its not like this thing is going to set up shop as a typical low and give you some tornado producing supercells. A system came through earlier this year, dont remember the name, but it was in June or July. Either way, it brought tornadoes to Indiana.. but there was no point in going out. The tornadoes are only down for a very short amount of time, usually are only known because of the damage they caused in their short lifetime, because hardly anyone sees them as they are embedded in heavy rain 90% of the time, and travel at very high speeds. Its not like chasing a supercell; though there are embedded sups. Im not trying to say this is impossible, its just not as ideal as some may think. Its like chasing a March set up, with 60 mph storm motions, only this time a hell of a lot more rain making it impossible to see.

 

[nickgrillo]

I've seen some photogenic supercells, including a very nice LP (!) from Charlie, back from last year...

Yet, this is pretty uncommon. Like many have already covered (and I myself mentioned in the first reply) these tornadoes often come with embedded storms. You'd have a better time chasing MI HPs on a July day, then hurricane-spawned supercells, most of the time :lol: :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, chasing hurricane associated tornadoes is difficult, but not impossible especially with WX WORX. Check out the links below for some cool images.

Bill Hark

Nice structure during my chase of Katrina induced storms in Virginia
http://www.harkphoto.com/08302005.html

Virginia tornado from Ivan in 2004
http://www.greatdreams.com/weather/tornado...rginia-2004.jpg

Streaming video of Ivan induced tornado in Panama City
http://www.radarheinrich.de/storms/videos/tornado.wmv


Ivan induced tornado from northern Virginia

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[Jason A.C. Brock]

WOW. Impressive video. Im hoping for some of this type activity in the Wichita Falls Texas area but that may be too far West and North. Hopefully not. Id like a nice rainy weekend and with a front stalling in the area and very warm tmps and high dewpoints it could be an interesting weekend to say the least.
Jay

 

[SteveCarter]

They DO move fast, but still GO!! With these bands, it's not like you get one chance, then it's over. Sometimes, you can get band after band, and Every band has that chance. Look at all the warned areas right NOW. It's noon EST on Friday. I got some great video from Katrina in Northeast Georgia a few weeks ago, and the cells were very structured. I forgot my digital camera, but took a few with my cell phone, and you can clearly see the layers and the bowl shape as it moved across the area. LP as well as very little lightning, and NO hail. Perfect. You can tell from radar where the bands are going, and despite how fast they move, you can be there. You can't follow them, but you CAN be there. And don't forget the awesome cloud displays you'll see, with or without any tornadic activity. My area I'm going to is the Shreveport, LA - Jackson, MS, then a further North later in the weekend, or first of the week.

 

[Brandon Clement]

Tornado warnings all over central Ms. I am going to head out in a minute and should be a lot to chase today. If anyone else will be in the area give me a shout. So far everything is staying pretty isolated so it should be fun.

 

[Brandon Clement]

Just got back in from a quick chase. There's nothing like chasing close to home. I was on three storms, all three had nice wall clouds and prompted tornado warnings. The most impressive of the three started about a half mile from my house and I chased it about 30 miles north. 60mph storm motion brings a whole new meaning to the word chasing. At one point the wall had very nice structure with some strong rotation. I couldn't tell if there was a tornado or not because I was very close and couldn't see past the trees. There were some damage reports about a half mile from where I was, but I don't know if it was from a tornado or just wind damage. I never even had to open up my computer because channel 16 WAPT in Jackson had non stop coverage of the storms. I was just watching my TV in the dash and Ken Johnson (stormtrack member and met) was showing the radar and wind velocity products as well as street level mapping so it worked out great. I don't know if I could have navigated through the curvy roads and work the computers because these storms were flying.

I'm hoping for some more action later this afternoon, but more than likely we are done for the day. There is clearing right now and some smaller stuff out to my S so it is possible.

 

[Brandon Clement]

WAPT in Jackson just reported significant tornado damage to the town of Belzoni in West Central Ms or about 70 miles to the NW of Jackson, Ms.