Project Adam! Let's package up some hope.

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Thanks to Dot and Tom, never forgotten founders of this great event. Come on, come fly with us!

Thanks to hosts: Klaus Sandy Sylvia Wren Louise Fishing Guy
I posted this recently, but I didn't really say much about it. It was a spectacular sun chasing day with clouds creating the perfect ambiance. Here, we see a brilliant sun, beaming its radiant light on the clouds, which then cast shadows across the sky. I love cloud shadows. They are so entertaining. The above shot was captured a little later that same day. I love it when the sun is almost molten lava in the sky, melting the sky around it, in a fiery corona.Finally, every cloud has a silver lining... the cloud is no exception. Except this one also presents crepuscular rays and cloud shadows. It was taken the same day as the other day, but slightly earlier.

I have been encouraged lately by a group of heart-warming storm chasers, who are helping me with a project I am working on. A while back, I was contacted by the mother of a 4 year old weather enthusiast. The little boy, Adam is a special needs child who has developed this huge passion for weather and storm chasing. She contacted me to help nurture and develop that passion in him. As a result, I put out an appeal to my friends for them to send me weather related stuff to send to Adam. Jay Reid (a founding member of the Southern Weather Brigade) started it out with a substantial care package for our little friend, Adam, henceforth dubbing the project, Project Adam! This, of course, fueled my passion for the project and encouraged me to step up the appeal. Since then, members of the Southern Weather Brigade and kind members of the storm chasing community nationwide have stepped in with offers of gifts for this precious little boy. Special thanks to Jay, Jeff, Rick, Ken, JB, Mike W., Mike D. Mikey S., Mike H., Peggy, Jennifer, James, Jamie, and Brandon, who have promised items so far! It really makes me proud to be a part of this group and more importantly to count these folks among my friends. Thanks for helping brighten the heart of this precious little boy. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. If you are interesting in helping with this project, send me an email at dewdrop_in_sga @ yahoo.com (sorry, you will have to type it... trying to avoid a spam attack!)

Be strong in the Lord; never give up hope. You're gonna do great things, I already know. God's got his hand on you, so don't live life in fear. Forgive and forget, and don't forget while you're here, take your time to pray.

Have a beautiful day and God bless you!!
~Dewdrop

On my soapbox...

Unfortunately, with TWC not having had any other weather to talk about, they are seeking out every scrap of video, every morsel of weather related news they can from this weekend's tornado outbreak. They are showing people who drove into the tornado and survived, people whose homes crashed around them, church leveled around them, tornadoes chased them... and they survived. What message does that send to the public? Go on... use that fancy iPhone of yours to get right up close and personal and shoot great video, so the Weather Channel will make you famous. No, no, you don't need to know anything about weather or how to stay safe, just shoot it and send it in, and we'll give you a by-line... if you survive it. I am afraid that TWC's iWitness and all these tornado chasing reality shows (yes, yes, I know I was on one), where people get closer, closer... to the point of actually being inside the doggone tornado (how insane and stupidly dangerous is that?!) are creating a breed of fanatics, who know nothing about what it is they are chasing, but the thrill of being close to danger and seeing their video on TV drive them to the brink of death. I was disgusted when I saw a video this morning of a couple watching a tornado approach them. While she shouted in panic, he shot video, and told her that they would just hop in the ditch if it got close... yeehaw, just like we saw on that there "Twister" movie, right? Dude, she had the right idea... you were clueless and she was reasonably scared. Then, there was the footage of the man on his front porch filming a tornado's approach as sirens are wailing, warning him to get himself and his screaming scared children to safety, but no, he had to shoot the footage to send into TWC. Tornadoes kill. Let me repeat that... TORNADOES KILL. If you don't know what you're doing, seek shelter. My heart is sad over the public perspective as it seems to be developing regarding storm chasing and the growing need to provide iWitness coverage to TWC goons. Be safe, people. Now, let me just hop off that soapbox.

To quote Benjamin Franklin: Some are weather-wise; some are otherwise.

It is with a heavy heart that I see the models are setting up to blast the SAME region this weekend.It breaks my heart to think of them digging through the rubble and learning that there is yet another target drawn over them. How terrifying that must be. My thoughts and prayers are with them as they deal with the trauma and tragedy... as they deal with the wreckage left after the storm. May God fill them with a peace that transcends all understanding. Guard their hearts and minds, Lord.

Have a blessed day!
~Dewdrop

Farewell Mike!

It is with mixed emotions that I announce the end of a season, but the beginning of an international movement within the Southern Weather Brigade. On Saturday, Meso Mike (the link isn't working yet, but bear with him), will be leaving for a 1 year tour in Korea, serving with our Air Force. After that, he has a follow on to Italy, where he can reunite with his wife and 2 adorable little girls. Of course, we had to give him a proper send-off. My wonderful groom and Rick and I gathered together in Tifton with Meso Mike's family for the send off. The food was exceptionally yummy at the Pitstop BBQ place. Mike's mom commented that she had never been to a place where they serve pickles in the arm pits of the chicken. We had an amazingly fun time, remembering old times, fond memories of chases gone bad (doggone Dewvoid), and they recapped their plot to travel out to Oklahoma, Dew-less in an effort to actually nab something... RUDE!
Mike redeemed himself when he gave me his own personal copy of Tim's Storm Chasing Handbook, which seriously almost made me cry. So sweet, Mike. His gift to Rick just cracked us all up.










We'll miss you so much, Mike. Keep in touch, and keep on chasing. See you when we chase in the plains. :D

~Dew

Tornado Outbreak in the south 2010

OK, so I knew that Sunday was going to be a sad chase day in our neck of the woods, so we decided to try to seize of Saturday's horrific outbreak what we could. Unfortunately, we were tied up until 2:30PM, but as soon as we were finished, we hopped into the geared up minivan and headed north and west. There was a little bit of feed off the Gulf that looked to be firing off of Mobile. I had hoped that by the time we got up to say Columbus, we would still have daylight and the cells would still be firing. There was a steady line from Mobile, up into central Georgia. Unfortunately, it was only severe warned at the southernmost part. Only the line that produced all the devastation with the 97 mile long (potentially up to 200 mile long) track of that devastating tornadic supercell, which appears to have dropped tornadoes along its path from Louisiana into Georgia. Unfortunately, that does include the horrifying EF4 tornado, which stole 10 lives in Yazoo City, Mississippi, as it ravaged that town and many others along the course of that tornadoes path. Rick, Alabama Mike, Sarah, Jeff and Jim were in Tuscaloosa waiting on a different tornadic cell, but it passed by to their north, just to their north. You can see on the map above, that these storm paths were very long tracked. The detailed of the storm reports further tells of the devastation. It's humbling to read of what happened. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those impacted, especially those who lost loved ones.

So, my wonderful groom and I, with radar support from Storm Chasing Mikey (our Virginia member of the Southern Weather Brigade). He offered valuable updates and advice for the best possibility for intercept, given the less than optimal circumstances. We headed northwest on Highway 19 out of Thomasville, with the goal of Columbus, knowing full well, we were racing against daylight's end. The plan was to make it up to Albany and reassess. We got to Albany, and Mikey and I reviewed the radar to see how things were tracking. It was 6PM. We only had a couple of hours of daylight left at best, so we decided to cut harder west and hope that the system ejected a little farther east and south. We knew that by the time we got to Columbus, we wouldn't be able to see anything, so we headed to Georgetown, and we planned to make it as far as we could to re-evaluate the situation. Unfortunately, we made it all the way to Eufaula, AL, and we saw a whole lot of nothing. GRL3 wasn't cooperative in Eufaula, giving me about 20 minutes of delay on radar, but regardless, it looked like everything was well to our north and we were out of daylight. It was a wonderful adventure though. According to my wonderful groom, "A bad day storm chasing, is better than a good day of yard work" (which was our original plan for the day. lol!) We saw a lot of wonderful things, and got to visit the Chattahoochee River and the beautiful bridge passing over it. In Georgetown, the gas station attendant was warning my wonderful groom about the approaching weather, and he told her we've been chasing after it all day. She told everyone in the gas station to listen up that he was a "real live storm chaser"! LOL! No, we didn't see anything. Are we surprised? No, not really. We learned that there is a whole lot of nothing between Albany and Eufaula, except some strangely placed water towers, and people get very curious when they see a person in a storm chaser hat in their town. Here's what we saw:
Yep, and that's all, folks. Sunday, as expected, everything ejected up into the Carolinas, causing more destruction up that way as the storm virtually missed us. I say virtually because a tree did happen to fall on my wonderful in-laws' house, ...and my wonderful groom had 1/4" hail fall on him at work. I resisted the urge to chase despite the cool scud and my wonderful groom's hail.No, I still haven't seen any...

For the rest of the day on Sunday, we bid farewell to a dear friend and chaser pal of ours. I'll make a separate post for that.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

17 25 tornado reports already

17 25 tornadoes, already. Man, I wish I were chasing.

EAGLE BEND MADISON MS
30 HOUSES FLATTENED REPORTED BY 911 (JAN)

1 N EAGLE BEND WARREN MS
30 HOUSES FLATTENED REPORTED BY 911 (JAN)

3 N SATARTIA YAZOO MS
HOME DESTROYED 3 MILES NORTH OF SATARTIA. PEOPLE TRAPPED INSIDE. (JAN)

1 S YAZOO CITY YAZOO MS
NUMEROUS BUILDINGS LEVELED AT HIGHWAY 16 ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF YAZOO CITY (JAN)

6 SW YAZOO CITY YAZOO MS
WIDESPREAD TREES DOWN WITH HOMES DAMAGED IN TOWN OF CRUPP. (JAN)

1 S YAZOO CITY YAZOO MS
CHURCH DESTROYED AT CORNER OF HIGHWAY 16 AND HIGHWAY 49. NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ALSO. (JAN)


For up to date information regarding tornado reports and other storm reports, check this website.

Storm Reports

God be with them.
~Dew

Severe weather continues to ravage the south

Sure enough, they have stepped up the risk category today to a high risk for severe weather. They have hatched out an area of Mississippi and Alabama showing a 30% risk of tornadoes today. That's the second graphic. A high risk is an imminent threat of bad weather for the outlined area. Anyone within that purple outline should be extremely cautious today and vigilantly aware of conditions in your area.

A POTENTIALLY SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK RESULTING FROM INCREASINGLY VOLATILE ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY INCLUDE AN INCREASING AND CONCENTRATED THREAT FOR TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...AND DAMAGING WINDS. THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED BY THIS ACTIVITY WILL BE ACROSS THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY BEGINNING THIS MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON AND SPREADING NORTHEASTWARD INTO THE TENNESSEE RIVER VALLEY AND MID SOUTH THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE NIGHTTIME HOURS. VERY STRONG WINDS ALOFT CHANGING DIRECTION WITH HEIGHT WILL SUPPORT THE POSSIBILITY FOR A FEW STRONG AND POTENTIALLY VIOLENT LONG TRACK TORNADOES ACROSS THIS AREA.

Let me reiterate...

SUPPORT THE POSSIBILITY FOR A FEW STRONG AND POTENTIALLY VIOLENT LONG TRACK TORNADOES ACROSS THIS AREA.

There will be bad weather today.

Public Severe Weather Outlook.

As for yesterday, the outcome wasn't exactly what the forecasters had expected. Thursday did end up the more tornadic day with 40 tornado reports on Thursday, as opposed to 8 on Friday.
Some crawlers ahead of the storm are actually making their way into Georgia now, headed my way, just looking like some strong thunderstorms. We might get some light early action. It should be a really exciting day, but I'll be off supporting Mini-Dew until 3PM. Then, looks like my wonderful groom and I have a road trip ahead of us. I have charged my laptop, video camera, camera batteries. I am geared up and ready to go. I just hope we make it to the action while there is still day light. I don't do night chasing, and unfortunately, it looks like the forecast still calls for Dewvoid tomorrow. Today is THE DAY.Have a great and safe day!
~Dewdrop

Expect some weather ahead

Well, well, well... with severe weather season finally upon us, and today having the potential to be the most active day of the season... you can bet, I have an eye on things today. Yesterday was an active day, as predicted, with a whopping 32 tornado reports.... and apparently, that was just an appetizer. Now, we're cooking with Crisco! Today's moderate risk for severe weather and public severe weather outlook present an ominous picture of what's to come today.




Anyone in the outlined area should be vigilant and mindful of rapidly changing conditions. Keep your weather radios nearby and be ready to seek shelter in a safe place. It is very likely that there will be tornadoes today.

REGIONAL SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONG TORNADOES IS POSSIBLE TODAY. HIGH HELICITY VALUES GIVE CONFIDENCE IN MAINTAINING THE FORECAST OF MULTIPLE TORNADOES /SOME STRONG/ TODAY OVER THE MODERATE RISK AREA. THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE:

ARKANSAS
NORTHERN LOUISIANA
NORTHERN AND WESTERN MISSISSIPPI
WESTERN TENNESSEE
NORTHEAST TEXAS

For tomorrow, the threat shifts eastward and confidence increases. I would not be surprised to see this moderate threat for tomorrow increased to a High Risk PDS situation, with a high likelihood of a significant tornado outbreak. I've got several friends who will be chasing the event in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee... Be safe, Mike, Rick, Jenn (the other storm chasing Jenn, not me) and Jeff (from what I hear)... sorry JB, sounds like Dew timing to me on your brother's wedding. Be safe to all of you chasers out there!!! Live to chase another day.




If the system accelerates, I can possibly chase some of the evening if it makes it into SW Georgia, but I have my sights set on chasing Sunday, wherever the weather happens. Stand alone statement in the discussion regarding tomorrow's weather:--TORNADO OUTBREAK POSSIBLE OVER PARTS OF THE LOWER MS AND TN VALLEYS INTO CNTRL GULF STATES SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT--

SET THE STAGE FOR A SIGNIFICANT...AND WIDESPREAD OUTBREAK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY TWO PERIOD. THE GREATEST THREAT FOR CYCLIC SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF SIGNIFICANT TORNADOES WILL EXIST FROM THE VICINITY OF THE SECONDARY LOW TRACK SEWD INTO THE WARM SECTOR /I.E. LARGELY DELINEATED BY MDT RISK AREA/. ENVIRONMENT WILL BE CHARACTERIZED BY DEEP EFFECTIVE INFLOW LAYERS YIELDING EFFECTIVE SRH IN EXCESS OF 200-300+ M2/S2...MODERATE INSTABILITY AND 50-70 KT OF DEEP-LAYER SHEAR. SEVERE STORMS CAPABLE OF MAINLY DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT WITH THE THREAT EXTENDING NWD THROUGH THE OH RIVER AND AS FAR E AS THE CNTRL/SRN APPALACHIANS AND ERN GULF STATES.

The Final round arrives Sunday, where a slight risk for severe weather exists in my neck of the woods, and the Southern Weather Brigade in south Georgia is gearing up. My plan is to go wherever the weather presents itself. I suspect afternoon, well east of here, closer to the coast, and I plan to chase it over there.

A TORNADO AND DAMAGING WIND THREAT OVER THE SERN STATES SUNDAY MORNING INTO EARLY AFTERNOON MAY TRANSITION TO PRIMARILY DAMAGING WINDS THROUGH THE PEAK OF THE DIURNAL HEATING CYCLE ACROSS THE PIEDMONT AND COASTAL PLAIN.

Looks like they are doing a good job of forecasting the Dewvoid, already turning it into a mainly wind event. Sigh... I'm on stand-by. Wish I wasn't busy on Saturday.

~Dewdrop

WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL SUNDAY... HERE!!!!

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Thanks to Dot and Tom, never forgotten founders of this great event. Come on, come fly with us!

Thanks to hosts: Klaus Sandy Sylvia Wren Louise Fishing Guy

This is a shot from our recent anniversary trip to South Carolina. Specifically, it was taken on Charleston's Waterfront Park Pier, while we were out looking at the bay there. There were people everywhere. All of the swings were taken. Kids were actually playing in the water fountain (BRR!). It was so much fun. My wonderful groom derives pleasure from messing with the minds of animals, whether he's teasing them with feeding gestures (without offering any food) or trying to mimic their mating calls, he's always doing something. Here, he is throwing fake food in the air as the gulls swoop down in a fury. He's such a meanie. What struck me was the amazing sky. It was an intense blue sky that day, with a dusting of mare's tail cirrus clouds whipping up the sky.It was the perfect day for sightseeing there in Charleston. I absolutely love spring, the severe weather, the flowers (not a fan of the pollen, but the colors and the fragrance), the mild temperatures, the smell of a spring rain on the asphalt, and all the wonderful new life that pops up. My wonderful groom was working in the yard some yesterday afternoon, and he sent us these two shots from our yard.Too cool.

As I mentioned, spring means severe weather, and as I mentioned yesterday, things are lining up for approaching severe weather, today, tomorrow, Saturday. We expect to see it today in the plains, and the threat creeps eastward as the days progress into the weekend, with Sunday being our day if the activity preceding hasn't sucked the system dry and stabilized everything. For now, the Georgia members of the Southern Weather Brigade are pursuing a chasetunity on Sunday, the last hoorah for Meso Mike, PCSing in early May to Korea with a follow on to Italia. That said, we really don't need the Dewvoid to erode our plans and void Mike of his last US chase for many years to come. You know?That's right folks, they are presenting a day 4 activity area, and I am smack dab in the middle of it!!!

SEVERE WEATHER FOCUS IS ON THE MIDDLE AND SRN ATLANTIC COAST/SOUTHEAST U.S. DAY 4 /SUN. APR. 25/.VERY STRONG FLOW ALOFT IS FORECAST TO REMAIN ATOP THE WARM SECTOR...PROVIDING SHEAR FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELLS. THIS COMBINED WITH A MOIST ENVIRONMENT DESTABILIZING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON APPEARS SUPPORTIVE OF THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THIS AREA.

It's CHASE TIME!
~Dewdrop

Finally, Spring has arrived, severe weather-wise

We actually had a couple of tornado reports yesterday in north Texas. The tornado reports are indicated by the red dots on the map. I actually saw a shot of one of the tornadoes, looked impressive. We had a one funnel whirl for a couple of seconds that retreated back into the cloud, but that was it, and nothing more happened. It could very well have been my imagination as desperate for something as I am. The same area is under a slight risk today,... incidentally, that same area is also under a slight risk for severe weather for tomorrow, and then on Friday and Saturday, the threat moves slightly eastward. Finally, it looks like spring has arrived and severe weather season is upon us. Saturday looks like the big day to me.

WITH STRONG DEEP-LAYER WIND FIELD AND MOIST/LIKELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS IN PLACE... WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS LIKELY. AT LEAST SOME SEVERE THREAT SHOULD SHIFT STEADILY EWD WITH TIME DAYS 5-6-7...

I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this one as it tracks across the US.

Have a beautiful day!
~Dewdrop

So much for rain...

So much for that 40% rain chance yesterday. Nothing ever came of it. Sure it threatened to act up. It was a little breezy and the sky was overcast much of the day, and even more exciting, there was some beautiful virga (rain that doesn't make it to the ground)and a hint of mammatus (bumpy clouds),... so my wonderful groom and I seized the opportunity to picnic at the park for lunch. It was such a beautiful day, except for the thick layer of breath-stealing pollen resonating the entire environment. Who needs to be able breathe? It's over-rated, right? Regardless, it was a beautiful, sunshine-y day, and I had a great time watching a little boy try to fly his kite. He was successful once. My camera wasn't ready. It was funny watching him drag it around in the grass.

Last Thursday, I had some spectacular skies. I was impressed with the silver lining on the cloud, on a day as discouraging as April 15th (for some), but I also enjoyed the cloud shadows as the sun set and the way a somewhat corona formed as the sun melted the sky on its way down. Very cool.

On Saturday, we hosted game night with some friends. The most exciting picture is an after creation by my dear friend. We had to break out the play-doh for our Cranium game. I love the way the Play-doh container reflects on the table. Too cool!

As for weather, they actually have something popping in the extended forecast. It's been a while. Looks like this weekend could be turbulent for folks in the plains. Nothing here... are we surprised?

~Dewdrop