Cuckoo for CoCoRaHS!!

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Please visit Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy, the team for SKY WATCH FRIDAY (click the word to link and participate!) Thanks to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us! In honor of a perfect weekend, I am posting a picture of an amazing sunset taken from a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Just enough haze enabled me to capture the sun in the shot as a large ball of fire disappearing into the Gulf.Above the clouds pictured here was an amazingly placed altocumulus stratiformis field, which reflected the sun beautifully. It doesn't get much better than that, you know? God is awesome!

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.

May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
~Psalm 36:5-11

Well, after the monster storm, temperatures have raced upward once again. We are looking at 70° weather after having dealt with snow as far south as about 40 miles north of me on Sunday. Of course, that doesn't touch the approaching 100° temperatures they are experiencing in Texas, combined with extremely low relative humidity and significant wind, the fire danger grows dramatically. Here, I awoke to a sheet of glistening frost on my lawn, but temperatures will climb quickly from a low 30's to about 70°, nothing like a nice warming trend to get your blood moving again, which will serve to bring things back to "normal" for us.
Speaking of relatively low humidity and warming trends, rain just about did not happen anywhere on the eastern United States, according to CoCoRaHS (CoCoRaHS is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) data maps. In line with the excitement of NCAA's March Madness, CoCoRaHS has a little March Madness recruitment drive of their own. How many CoCoRaHS volunteers can I recruit for Georgia...? Well, let's see. Please, check out the CoCoRaHS website, read about what they are all about and how you can help. Become a volunteer today! Tell them Dewdrop sent you! I'm cuckoo for CoCoRaHS!

Have a GREAT day!
~Dewdrop

The many Mikes of Storm Chasing.... an incomplete list

OK, so Steve Miller (OK) posed an interesting question, one that many have pondered, I am sure... especially when you consider some of my blog entries where I start referencing Mikes. Just how many Mikes are there in storm chasing??? Well, I am going to list all the Mikes that I know about. Please realize that I am relatively new to storm chasing, haven't been to any conferences or conventions, so I am SURE there are many more storm chasers named Mike that I don't know about. If you are one of them, please don't take offense, just let me know and I will add you to my list. If you know of one that I have left off the list, I would like to know about them, as well, so please share that information with me. (Official Dewsclaimer: I am not familiar with some of these sites, so if they contain questionable or objectionable content, please let me know, and I will promptly remove them from my list.)

The MANY Mikes of Chasing!!!
1. Alabama Mike Wilhelm
2. Meso Mike Smith
3. Tennessee Mike (Michael)Detwiler
4. Mike Hollingshead
5. Storm Chasing Mike (Mikey) Shumate
6. Mike Umscheid
7. Mike (Michael) Carlson
8. Mike Theiss
9. Mike Peregrine
10. Mike Cox
11. Mike Gauldin
12. Mike (Mikey) Gribble
13. Mike Hardiman
14. Mike Kruze
15. Mike MacDonald
16. Mike Parker
17. Mike Ridgeway
18. Mike Scantlin
19. Mike Smith

Wow! Many more storm chasing Mikes than I ever could have imagined.

(Skywatch Friday, click on the icon to play along through Tom Wigley's site and join in.) Now, onto weather... the SPC has still solidly drawn my neck of the woods out of the area for a slight risk of severe weather. Currently, I am looking at solid and strong convection well to the south and well to the north. We aren't really in need of another solid precipitation event just yet... we have just now barely climbed out of a flood warning... as the river finally dipped below the flood stage, but it would not take much to get back up there. We are soggy down this way. The areas to my north getting rain right now, have a desperate need for rain, so I have no qualms about them getting it rather than me... That's not to say that we won't see rain today down this way. We are actually seeing "likely rain" this afternoon. Unfortunately, my ulterior motives of shooting lightning may be squashed since thick cloud cover, insufficient heating and a significant cap seem to have their hold on the weather... a strong thunderstorm may be possible if we get a break in the clouds, but it doesn't look likely. Isolated thunderstorms is the best the forecast has to offer me.

(Photo Courtesy of the NWS Tallahassee-Tornado Damage in Keaton Beach, FL from EF2 Tornado on March 7, 2008)The National Weather Service in Tallahassee has issued its storm report for the 2 confirmed tornadoes that impacted our CWA on March 7th, one in Capitola, FL (an EF1) and one in Keaton Beach, FL (an EF2). The last report I saw thankfully listed only one injury associated with one of the tornadoes that generated from that significantly bowed segment of the squall that came through on March 7th.

Finally, I mentioned yesterday that I am hosting CoCoRaHS training here tonight... anyone in South Georgia interested in volunteering as a CoCoRaHS volunteer observer, offering valuable precipitation data to the NWS for there analysis and climatology, should contact me for more details.

Happy Friday, folks!
~Dewdrop

Unique Traffic Award and upcoming weather scenario

I would like to start today's blog by thanking Ken Reynolds for creating and awarding my blog with this "Unique Traffic Award" for the interestingly unique and creatively innovative ways that I lure new traffic to my blog. Thanks, Ken! That was so sweet! I guess in true blog award fashion, I need to pay this award forward, by awarding this to folks who impress me with their interestingly unique and creatively innovative ways of drawing in new traffic. This is an easy award to pay forward, as there are 3 people who stand out as using some of the most entertaining tactics I have seen...

1. Steve Miller, Oklahoma (You had to know you were getting this one... identical triplets???)
2. Steve Miller, Texas (I think you have been taking lessons from the other one...)
3. Jeff Gammons (Since he's the only person I know of who knows what's going on with the Tropical Cyclone Jokwe in Mozambique and Cyclone Kamba)

You guys definitely earned that award!!! Speaking of that though... had a hit yesterday from someone searching for "south ga boggin"... you might be a redneck if... people find your blog when they search for "south ga boggin". Yeah, buddy.

I did stop on the way to work this morning to capture some sun and landscape shots... the sun rose into the horizon first casting a golden amber glow, which faded into a deep blue of the passing twilight. That golden hue combined with the fog just after sunrise to create some phenomenal landscapes, so I had to dew what I dew. I pulled off the side of the road and snapped a few shots. I am sure that passing traffic was irritated that I was not merely going with the flow... but oh well. I got the shots I was after, even got a cool shape out of the sun with my cool barn...Now... onto the weather... First, I have noticed that TWC is advertizing Tornado Awareness Week next week, and they are going to teach families how to prepare for a tornado... should be interesting to watch... Aside from that, the SPC has outlined several areas for a slight risk of severe weather... starting in Texarkana today, spreading into much of Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee tomorrow, and then missing me to the north on Saturday, impacting much of Georgia and the Carolinas. We are expecting thunderstorms tomorrow evening, which should make the CoCoRaHS training interesting, that I am hosting tomorrow evening for all the weather enthusiasts who are planning to come. I am so excited about CoCoRaHS starting up in Georgia, and I am impressed with the local interest and response to the appeal for volunteers... there are many weather enthusiasts among us. Anyways, thunderstorms tomorrow evening, nothing severe locally, but perhaps I can shoot some lightning. I haven't done that since last summer.

Toodles,
~Dewdrop

Lake City Tornado on March 7, 2008, EF2

I would just like to start by saying that the National Weather Service Office in Jacksonville is amazingly impressive. They have posted their 18 slide presentation of the storm damage from Friday's EF-2 tornado the swept through Lake City (Columbia County), FL (with amazing presentation on radar). I urge you to check out their presentation, as it is the best storm report presentation I have ever seen, and it contains photographs of the damage that the Lake City, FL, tornado caused (one of which was quite reminiscent of the part in "Twister" where the house rolls into the street and Bill Paxton shouted "We're goin' in!!" Friday's tornado in Lake City, FL, took the lives of 2 people (1 of which was direct), injured 5, destroyed 19 homes and damaged 41 homes. The 2 mile track tornado is the one that I speculated about, while I was arm chair chasing on Friday during that powerful storm, suspecting a tornado at that time. There were 15 tornado reports during Friday's severe weather outbreak. Five of those tornado reports have been confirmed as tornadoes, 2 of those EF-2's (this one in Lake City and one in Keaton Beach, FL.) I also heard from my CoCoRaHS coordinator in Georgia, Christ, that an EF-1 hit Douglasville, GA. Of course, Peachtree City doesn't have a storm report up... and won't have anything like Jacksonville's up, but here is what Chris had to say about it:

They're calling the storm a mini supercell. Radar presentation (reflectivity, anyway) was not at all impressive, and there was very little CG activity. But it managed to partially cave in the roof of a Kroger, and toss one of the store's air conditioning units onto some cars in the lot. The WFO sent a survey party out Saturday, and they're calling it an EF1.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who were impacted by Friday's severe weather outbreak.

I was a bit frustrated when I went outside today to see that my yard was destroyed when large crane-type trucks dug a huge tracked trench in my front yard. Grr!!! You see, I have a community well, which didn't have a substantially-sized pump for my neighborhood, so they came in to fix it, which rendered me waterless on Saturday while they worked on that, and now they will be getting a larger pump, and will be working to install that when it arrives, so when I called the water company to complain about the damage to my lawn, they said they would make it right, but they would need to wait until after they are finished in case they cause more damage in the process, sounds like they will be boggin' in my front yard before this is done... good grief!











You know that tree that I have photographed that I find so picturesque on my way to work...? Well, here it is again. This morning, the sharp blue of the sky, with the accompanying strip of altocumulus clouds, that were shearing off to a thin field of cirrus was a fascinating backdrop for my special tree , glowing from the sun rising behind it. I just love to see what kind of view I'll get of this tree each morning.

On Saturday, as I was traveling back from a wedding in Thomasville with bf and his children, we passed a couple of nice primitive-style churches. I just love the charm of these structures, and since bf knows that, he was kind enough to stop so I could shoot them... one of which was at the end of a (very) long dirt road, but it was well worth the drive. It definitely inspired me to the point of me wanting to make it a priority to go on sort of themed photo shoots...
1. Primitive Churches
2. Barns
3. Water Towers
4. Waterfalls
You know how I take my lunch time/weekend excursions from time to time? Well, I think I will go after these things... Wouldn't that be fun?! Anyways, here are the churches....That's all I've got for now.

Oops... Almost forgot "Odd Shots"... I totally missed "Sky Shots" on Friday too, but I will try to post something on Friday for "Sky Shots" this week. To participate in "Odd Shots", check out Katney's Kaboodle site. It's a great opportunity to share your cool stuff. I took this one a while back just sticking the camera out the window... I thought it was total coolness.Have a Happy Monday!!!
~Dewdrop

Severe weather ahead... yes, folks, the Dewvoid is DEAD!

Round 2 for me seems to be coming right up. Currently, the Storm Prediction Center has issued a "Public Severe Weather Outlook", with much of Mississippi falling within an area defined as having a moderate risk for severe weather today. Already today, within the slight risk area of Texarkana, there have been a few tornado warnings and several doppler indicated mesocyclones. As the dynamics worsen (depending on your prespective I suppose... storm chasers are actually drooling over this set-up), the severity of this "POWERFUL UPPER LEVEL LOW", which the SPC has warned could contain

WIND SPEEDS OVER 100 MPH. THE SETUP WILL BECOME FAVORABLE FOR BANDS OF FAST-MOVING LONG-LIVED STORMS AND SUPERCELLS ALONG AND POSSIBLY AHEAD OF THE FRONT. THE STORMS COULD YIELD A FEW STRONG TORNADOES... IN ADDITION TO SWATHS OF DAMAGING WIND....ESPECIALLY LATE TODAY THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY.

I will go on the record once again as saying that I hate night time events... PEOPLE, TURN YOUR WEATHER RADIOS ON!!! Excellent lead in, though, for what is forecast for my neck of the woods tomorrow, which is actually the SPC map above... that is tomorrow's outlook. We are expecting... are you ready for this??? A strong to marginally severe squall line, which should impact western Georgia in the morning hours... (big shocker there, huh?), but...

WITH DIURNAL HEATING AIDING IN THE DESTABILIZATION OF THE AIR MASS...STORMS SHOULD INTENSIFY AS THEY SHIFT EWD THROUGH THE DAY (towards me... might be another Tuesday chasetunity for me... insert Happy Dew Dance here.) DEWPOINTS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH THE LOWER/MID 60S... but MLCAPES ARE PROGGED TO ONLY RANGE FROM 500-1000 J/KG. HOWEVER... STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL WINDS AND LARGE SCALE LIFTING ASSOCIATED WITH SRN EXTENT (my part) OF THE UPPER LOW SHOULD MAINTAIN STRONG/SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITHIN THE LINE.

Definite weather headed this way. Will it be severe? That is the question. It looks to me like Mississippi will take the brunt of it today, and then, get this... with the cold front being as powerful as it is, it should drop winter weather on the same areas experiencing some of the severe weather. Tornadoes today, snow tomorrow... weird. All falls in line with the impending Global Cooling crisis. Wink, wink, nod, nod, Steves. Well, there you have it. My "Odd Shots Monday" shot. Check out Katney's Kaboodle blog to see how to play. Btw, that was the surprise that I referenced on Friday. I designed it specifically to have the lightning bolts with the Icthus/Dewdrop suspended from between the bolts, seemed an appropriate design for me. It is my first time, and it wasn't so bad. I am still a little giddy after having it done yesterday... Pardon the creative cropping; didn't want to share any more of myself than what you see there (probably too late for that...), but I thought it was an appropriately titled odd shot. Thanks to JJ for capturing it for me.

I guess I can share this too, and encourage people to sign up as volunteers for the awesome CoCoRaHS program!!! I am Cuckoo for CoCoRaHS!!! Aren't you? Thanks, Melissa for sharing the pic of the shirt, and thanks to all the people who have volunteered in my area for the upcoming Georgia "go-live".

Have a lovely Monday!
~Dewdrop

How will the Dewvoid interact with the severe weather risk in South Georgia... ?

Well, if nothing else, the system that rolled through yesterday made valliant attempt at being labeled a drought buster. In less than 24 hours, my part of South Georgia saw 3.26" of rain (btw, you should consider volunteering for CoCoRaHS in your state if you haven't already.) I emptied my rain gauge early last night in case the rain kept coming, since it will only hold so much. We are actually under a flood warning as the river that I have shot relatively recently (I will post a pic here) is quickly approaching flood stage. Now, I am looking at a thick fog that seems to have settled in and a solid stratus deck that will most likely destroy the severe weather threat here if it sticks around. Today is the day, though. The Storm Prediction Center has continued to place me smack dab in the middle of a slight risk area for severe weather... looks like a rock solid chasetunity to me, another test of the ever-present Dewvoid.

THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS SE LA TO S GA TODAY... THE WARM SECTOR CONVECTION... CONSISTING OF SMALL SCALE BOWS OR SPLITTING SUPERCELLS... WILL POSE A THREAT FOR DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL. HOWEVER... LOW-LEVEL SHEAR AND ANY ATTENDANT TORNADO THREAT WILL BE RELATIVELY LARGER ALONG THE WARM FRONT BY EARLY AFTERNOON ACROSS SE AL AND GA.

"Tornado threat relatively larger along the warm front across SE Alabama and GA".






Looks like a "SKYWARN spotters ACTIVATE!" day. The guys have put the timing here as late afternoon into the overnight hours. Hopefully, Meso Mike will be off and up to chasing at that time. I will be available after 5. :O) Rick has ended up going into work today, but may not have to stay, so he MIGHT become available for storm chasing this afternoon, and Alabama Mike has offered data support. They are all members of the Southern Weather Brigade. Just a bunch of CWGs.

There were 5 tornado reports in Louisiana during yesterday's weather event, which should seem like a lot, but I think that the outrageous amount of tornadic activity so far this year has somehow made 5 possible tornadoes seem almost... insignificant... less than newsworthy...? It certainly isn't insignificant to the people that were affected by them... This has been an exceptional year for tornadoes. Steve Miller in Oklahoma, included this frightening graphic in his blog the other day. For the sake of potential victims, all we can do is pray that this trend doesn't hold through the year. Rough proportional comparison would place the tally at year end near about 5,000 tornadoes (completely over-exaggerated and highly unlikely, but even 3,000...)! It's INCONCEIVABLE! With the "peak season" still yet to come... it could be a catastrophic year. Let's pray not.

I took this pic the day before yesterday and thought I would share it with the message that today is definitely the day to keep your eyes to the sky, with the weather radios in the "on" position.

I just got a pic from bf, who is currently at the beach in Biloxi, MS, and he sent me this pic of the sign at "Hope City", where people are still "camping" after Hurricane Katrina. Thanks for sharing that (and the lovely sand art not pictured here), bf!

TGIF!!!
~Dewdrop

Severe weather ripping across the southern US

I think I have come to terms with the bus driver hitting the tree situation. Thanks to Carrie and Annie for offering some great insight there, but I did sit with a mom yesterday who FREAKED when she heard about why the bus was late the other day, so I don't think my reaction was too out-of-line. Yesterday, when I picked up Mini-Dew, she announced that she was 10 minutes late for school yesterday because a tow-truck had to come and pull the bus out of the mud. Mud bogging in the cheese wagon!!! LOL! I am ok with the tow truck situation. Hard to prevent that in south Georgia on some of these dirt roads. It did get me curious about mud bogging though, and that got me looking online, where I found that Goochland, VA, has a "mud bogging" emergency ordinance in place...

Emergency Mud Bogging Ordinance: On a motion by Mr. Pryor, seconded by Mr. Eads, the Board unanimously voted 5-0 to approve the following Emergency Ordinance as presented All ages.
EMERGENCY ORDINANCE - TO PROHIBIT THE ACTIVITY KNOWN AS “MUD BOGGING”, PURSUANT TO TITLE 15.2, CHAPTER 14 AND CHAPTER 22 OF THE CODE OF VIRGINIA, AND INCLUDING SPECIFICALLY VIRGINIA CODES §15.2-1427(F) AND §15.2-2286(A)(7).

Seriously... they have outlawed mud bogging?! Give me a break!

OK, I have talked long enough about school buses and mud bogging this morning. Onto the weather... I have been talking to my friend, Melissa (the newest Meso Momma), who coordinates CoCoRaHS in the region, and it looks like Georgia will be going live in May!!! Woohoo! I am "Cuckoo for CoCoRaHS!!!" She shared that slogan with me. Isn't it great?! I plan on signing up as a volunteer as soon as it becomes available in Georgia. If you have it available in your state, you should consider volunteering. Here is some information about the collaborative effort of CoCoRaHS.

What is CoCoRaHS??
CoCoRaHS is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow). By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. We currently operate in many states across the country. If we are not in your state please drop us a line and let us know that you have an interest in participating. This helps us know where a desire exists for the network and where to focus our future expansion efforts.

Now, onto current weather... Yep, that low pressure system is sweeping across the central US, with its squall-line tail, whipping around toward me. Already, the SPC has issued a Tornado Watch for southern portions of Texas and Louisiana. This system is moving fast, and it looks like I am now just barely east of the "slight risk" area (barely, but nonetheless, much closer) outlined by the SPC, so I will be prudent to monitor the weather today and later into tonight, when things are most likely expected to intensify... night time on Thursday... of course. The perfect combination for me being unable to chase the storm, so it's the only obvious choice. Here is the wording that relates directly to my part of this storm...

THE SVR THREAT SHOULD CONTINUE E ACROSS PARTS GA TONIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY. INCREASING UPR DIFFLUENCE IN SE QUADRANT OF UPR SYSTEM AND WIDESPREAD INFLUX OF MOISTURE SUGGEST THAT BY THAT TIME THE STORMS WILL HAVE EVOLVED INTO AN EXTENSIVE SQLN. EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS WITHIN THE LINE WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A RISK FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES...IN ADDITION TO DAMAGING WIND.

The wording out of the SPC is strong for this whole system.

**INCREASINGLY FAVORABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR SFC-BASED SUPERCELLS
**STRONGLY-SHEARED ENVIRONMENT
**POTENTIAL WILL EXIST FOR STRONG TORNADOES
**BOWING SEGMENTS WITH DAMAGING WIND AND HAIL

Keep those weather radios nearby, folks. It's headed this way! Skywarn spotters, activate! It's weather time!

2:45 Updated Outlook from the SPC...

AS WARM SECTOR CONTINUES TO SHIFT INLAND... THERE WILL BE AN INCREASING THREAT FOR MORE DISCRETE SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT BOTH ALONG THE WARM FRONT AND WITH STORMS MOVING ONSHORE IN THE WARM SECTOR. GIVEN MOIST INFLUX WITHIN THE WARM SECTOR AND STRENGTH OF LOW LEVEL SHEAR...THE POTENTIAL ALSO CONTINUES FOR A STRONG TORNADO.

COLD FRONT TRAILING SWD FROM SERN OK SURFACE LOW IS EXPECTED TO OVERTAKE PRE-FRONTAL CONVECTIVE LINE LATER THIS EVENING ACROSS THE CENTRAL GULF COAST REGION. INCREASING UPPER DIFFLUENCE IN SE QUADRANT OF UPPER SYSTEM AND INFLUX OF MOISTURE SUGGEST THAT A LINE OF TSTMS ALONG THE COLD FRONT SHOULD CONTINUE EWD ACROSS PARTS OF SRN AL/FL PANHANDLE AND GA OVERNIGHT. EMBEDDED SUPERCELLS WITHIN THE LINE WILL CONTINUE TO POSE A RISK FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES...IN ADDITION TO DAMAGING WIND.

The HWO from the guys at the NWS has also been updated to reflect a little more potential for some action in my neck of the woods...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL GEORGIA
...SEVERE WEATHER POSSIBLE TONIGHT...
A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE SLOWLY NORTH ACROSS THE REGION LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...AS A STRONG COLD FRONT APPROACHES FROM THE WEST. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND EVEN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON...BUT WILL BECOME NUMEROUS TONIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. CONDITIONS APPEAR FAVORABLE FOR SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE TONIGHT...WITH DAMAGING WINDS BEING THE PRIMARY THREAT. A FEW TORNADOES WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY IF THE WARM FRONT MOVES INLAND FAR ENOUGH TO BRING IN WARM MOIST AIR FROM THE GULF. THE STORMS WILL BE ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST FRIDAY MORNING AS THE COLD FRONT SWEEPS THROUGH THE AREA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TONIGHT. SPOTTERS SHOULD CONSIDER THEMSELVES ACTIVATED WHEN A WATCH OR WARNING IS ISSUED.

Snapshot of what's going on in Louisiana/Mississippi, could be dropping a tornado right about now. Be on alert folks over that way.

Happy Dew Dance,
~Dewdrop