My trip to downtown Atlanta... after the tornado

Yet another severe weather outbreak occurred Thursday and Friday of last week, generating 24 total storm reports with 12 already confirmed as tornadoes. So far, there have been 335 confirmed tornadoes this year, and with the average year to date quantity being 167, that is a startling number, especially when you consider the big bulls-eye on Oklahoma for today as they forecast yet another severe weather outbreak with a potential risk of tornadoes. The risk shifts eastward tomorrow, covering Arkansas and Missouri... just what they need and then shifts back to Oklahoma and much of Texas of Wednesday as the second system rolls in hot on the heels of today's storms... It appears that we are well on track for a historic. I am guessing they are awaiting a final count before updating the trend chart.

I had a wonderful weekend in Atlanta. As part of the trip, we took the kids to the World of Coca-Cola (world's largest focused advertisement for Coco-Cola, where you actually pay them to market to you), conveniently located in downtown Atlanta, right in the area where the historic EF-2 tornado struck on March 14. You know me, I was able to talk bf into walking through the Centennial Olympic Park where I was able to capture some great shots of the tornado damage in the downtown area (as well of some very low cloud cover shots). It took him a few seconds, but bf quickly caught onto my ulterior motives for the "stroll through the park". It's ok though, the kids had a great time exploring the various statues and the fountains that were still working, as some were disabled because of the drought. I don't feel very strongly that the funnel was actually on the ground at the point, but certainly it was descended and causing some damage in the area, including the movement of the Westin Peachtree Hotel. I will let my picture summary cover the tornado damage there...Speaking of that tornado, I got an email from Shane Durrance that the "only photograph of the March 14th downtown Atlanta tornado" is now posted on a website for print purchase. This guy is racking up some serious dough for this photograph... get your 8 X 12" print for only $49.98... that too small for you, you can purchase the 24 x 36" for only $209.98. Good grief. So, if you are interested... you know where to go. This is what he wrote to me:

My life has been a whirl wind, no pun intended, since this whole thing started... We have a lot going on preparing for the Cabbage Town Initiative and art show happening in a few months. Please feel free to call me with any questions. Thanks.

Aside from that part of the trip to Atlanta, we did have some severe weather in the region while we were having dinner Friday evening with my extended family. We had them bring speakers over so I could keep an eye on the radar on the local news channel. All I have to show for that is a halfway decent shelf cloud... oh well, you win some, you lose some. On the way back from dropping his children off, bf was sweet to offer to stop at all the charming little churches. We stopped at a couple, but only one of those shots really impressed me...

I got an email from an author who is looking to interview storm chasers, who make money from storm chasing... he asked me for an interview, but as you guys know and as I told him, that is not me, so if you fall within that category and are interested in talking to this guy, drop me a line, and I will gladly pass your info along.

Have a lovely day,
~Dewdrop