Storms Don't Scare Me!

Why don't storms scare me? 

I don't really know.  I can't say that it's my faith because I haven't always had faith, but I have always had a passion for weather.  I know people who are terrified of weather (kind of like my brother under the bed hiding from the "lightling").  I know people who beg me to do something about the storms, make them go away.... ummm... I know I've got tremendous Dewvoid.  I know people who pray the storms away... OK, I do actually get that.

Dewvoid: (noun) The absence of significant weather events within a close proximity of me... only cause I think significant weather is really cool.

Perhaps there is an opportunity there to sell my services (storm stopping) to wedding planners and bar mitzvah  coordinators.  You want pretty weather for the event, just invite me, guaranteed sunshine! "Stopping severe weather in a single bound.  It's a bird, it's a plane... no, it's Dewdrop."

I have actually had a conversation recently with a friend at the National Weather Service office who was discussing with me a solid squall indicating severe parameters of wind, and "they" had placed me in the severe warning box. HA!  I told him that it looked like they forgot the Dewvoid in forecasting, and he jokingly said that he should make sure the radar guys draw out a significant Dewvoid parameter... moments later, I was drawn out of the severe warning when the storm completely pulsed down.  You see, it's scientifically proven.  But, I digress.

So, why are so many people terrified of "bad" weather, while I face it head on without a care in the world??

I guess it's not fair to say I don't have a care in the world in the face of severe weather.  I have a healthy respect for flash flooding and would definitely turn around rather than drown.  It simply isn't worth it.  I definitely have a strong respect for lightning and its death inducing potential.  When thunder roars, you should head indoors.  I do that most of the time, OK, OK, some of the time.  Sometimes, I go out on the porch, in the back yard, or in the garage (with the door open) trying to nab a shot. Talk about role reversal, my daughter is usually the one trying to drag me inside.  I know better. I have storm chasing friends who have had some bad experiences. I have been known to seek out rotating wall clouds just to watch them spin, but I did freak out a bit when I ended up in the Drop Zone, this one time on accident because south Georgia roads twist and turn so much and you have really limited visibility for all the trees (Disclaimer: storm chasing in south Georgia is not safe, at all).  I have a healthy respect for all things destructive in weather.  Heat, flooding, lightning, wind... gosh even big enough hail can kill a person.  I get that.  The threat is real.

But then... I see a sky like this one here.  This is what showed up after a severe warned thunderstorm rolled through one evening, recently. Do you SEE that?!  It's amazing. 

I guess, for me, it all comes down to striking beauty.  There are times when I look to the sky, and my breath is literally taken away.  My eyes are lured to it; I find myself enthralled with the splendor and glory of His creation.  Sure, the severe stuff is dangerous and can be quite ominous, but the beauty I see seems to outweigh the danger.  I mean, I have seen shelf clouds that look like the mother ship, slinking across the sky, all it's layers and colors and texture.  I have seen cloud to ground lightning, light up a sky in brilliant shades of purple, as its web-like tendrils scatter through the atmosphere, cleaning the air.  I have seen rotating wall clouds, mere feet above the ground, wider than a football field, just barely moving, not hurting anything, just being stunning.  The beauty keeps me seeking more; it draws me in.

I am Dewdrop, and I am obsessed with weather, cause it takes my breath away.  I can't get enough.

I am not scared.  I love it too much!

Till next time,
~Dewdrop

The Dewvoid strikes again...

Well, the Dewvoid appears to be prevailing. As I mentioned, our solid stratus deck has done its work to prevent the necessary instability to get things rolling in these parts. In these parts, we refer to that effect as the DEWVOID. The DEWVOID is loosely defined as the apparent weatherlessness that chases storm chaser, Dewdrop. The DEWVOID effect can single handedly kill a high risk PDS threat and render it nothingness.

Check out the wording in the mesoscale discussion just issued for my neck of the woods, and allow me to translate...Feel free to click on the image above if you don't believe me.

MAIN CONVECTIVE BAND CONTINUES MOVING EWD ACROSS THE ERN GULF/SERN CONUS (toward the area of apparent Dewvoidness)...WITH SOMEWHAT STRONGER/MORE CELLULAR CONVECTION FROM SWRN GA SWD (in other words, it is strong to severe away from here). EVEN ACROSS THIS REGION (the Dewvoid region) HOWEVER... WEAK INSTABILITY (what did I tell you?)-- AS INDICATED BY THE LACK OF INLAND LIGHTNING ATTM (and the presence of Dewdrop)-- CONTINUES TO
HINDER THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISOLATED/STRONGER STORMS. LIKEWISE...A DECREASE IN INTENSITY WITHIN THE ONGOING CONVECTION HAS BEEN NOTED OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF HOURS (as the system approaches Dew -- gasp, what a surprise!).

WHILE SHEAR PROFILES REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR ROTATION WITHIN ANY SUSTAINED/STRONGER UPDRAFT (as if!)... A CONTINUED DECREASE IN CONVECTIVE INTENSITY IS FORECAST GIVEN THE LACK OF INSTABILITY (Dewvoid effect expected)... AND GIVEN THE STRONGER LARGE-SCALE FORCING CONTINUING ITS NEWD SHIFT AWAY FROM THIS REGION (The Dewvoid will actually be driving the storm away!). WHILE AN ISOLATED/BRIEF TORNADO REMAINS POSSIBLE (HA!) OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS...THREAT SHOULD CONTINUE TO SLOWLY DIMINISH THIS AFTERNOON (as it continues to approach Dew).

Ugh.
~Dew

Chasing nothing...

Well, let's see... the last time I posted, I was leaving to run some errands, attend my rescheduled physical therapy (for the shoulder that never ended up needing a really big shot, just lots and lots of PT--pain and torture), which I had just resceduled to slightly earlier in hopes of being able to chase with Meso Mike when he got off of work... I knew that with the fast motion of that approaching squall line that I was cutting it close, but it seemed worth it to hook up with my chase partner... plus he's got a data card. Anyways... I ran to a bunch of places first taking care of some errands, got a ton done in that hour and talked with a few of the Brigade guys to get updates and input along the way. It was after I finished the errands and right before the pain and torture session, when my weather radio starts going ballistic... special weather statement for my county for an approaching cell that could go severe. WHAT?! Are you kidding me?! It was then that I turned the corner and facing the northwest, there is this mass of turmoiled cloud bottoms boiling by! They were rumbling and rolling and stirring, and you could see them tightening up, drawing in together. It was an impressive convective display, and I was mesmerized. It was minutes from my appointment time, but I HAD to stop (you understand, right?). This structure went right over me, and I searched those masses of scud for any signs of rotation. I never did see any, but I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and I called the guys to let them know what I was seeing. The base of that cell was phenomenal! That's the video above. Here are a couple more shots. It really doesn't do it any justice. So, then I dragged myself away from that, as hard as it was and called the guys at NWS-Tally to let them know what I was seeing and feeling and got an update about a cell over Thomasville, headed right for me, which should arrive in 30 minutes or so... smack dab in the middle of my pain and torture appointment. Fabulous. Can you say Dewvoid?! So, there I lay, with electrodes pulsating my shoulder, my dear son calling frantically to ask if we were under a tornado warning based on what he was seeing in the sky, as the thunder starts rumbling. Granted, it was only three total claps of thunder, but still, I missed it all. sigh. When I left there I called Meso Mike to see where he was, so I could catch up with him. On my way, I got to experience slightly more than normal street flooding, which I called the guys about. The pond along the way was well past its normal banks. After grabbing a quick bite, Mike checked the radar, which made it clear that the storm was barely there. We went slightly north to see if it would fire some, but it did not... so I drooled over his new Canon 40D for a few, and then he was on his way. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the radar before and after...




So... not a chase, but another batch of fabulous memories. The video doesn't work, but I am too tired to mess with it anymore... so sorry. OK, I changed it to a youtube thing, so there you have it. Anyone else have problems with the blogger video feed?

~Dew

Windy day... sun dogs.... chasing the sun

Well, my suspicions were accurate... no weather for me. I got a decent rain last night, I think (still no operational rain gauge... I need to remember to get that fixed before CoCoRaHS starts up in Georgia). The ground was wet, but I did not awaken to any thunderous claps in the night (not that I am an easy one to awaken). It was fun to watch the temperature fall this morning. It dropped 9 degrees during the hour that I watched TWC this morning. The high today was 62, which happened at about 6:30AM... it's all down hill from here, and the wind is pushing hard. Nothing like what occurred yesterday well north and west of here. 204 wind reports... with winds rating at 80mph in some places. Check out the storm reports by clicking on the map. Wild, wild weather we are having...

Since Ma Nature hasn't given me any weather to chase, I have taken to chasing the sun, once again. It's nice when it sets a little bit later, so I have time to get to a good viewing point, and when it's not so late that I am busy with Mini-Dew when it happens. My location for shooting sunsets is constantly changing because of development in the area. My beautiful views are being overtaken by "growth". As it is, my current view has an eye sore of a billboard smack dab in the middle of it. I might have to seek out some western views this weekend. At my current location, I have truck drivers looking at me like I am a fool. Maybe, I am... I was able, once again, to see sun dogs, not as impressive as some others I have been able to see, but I did get to see the faint sun dog on the other side this time, and I had a nice display of colors in the remnant of a contrail. You might have to click on the image and view it larger in order to see it well.Of course, I have to give kudos to Mike Hollingshead, who has shot the best sun dog with halo, I have ever seen (It's at almost the bottom of the page of several other pics that are equally impressive and awesome). I don't know how he does it, but I wish I had the talent for it, like he does... maybe it's another matter of my geographic misplacement. Great work, Mike. I love sun dogs.

Then, there is this morning. I mentioned that there was a nice rain last night... well, that cleared up, leaving cool air and wind, and a beautifully magnificent field of altocumulus clouds, covering the sky like a warm cottony blanket. For some reason, altocumulus clouds remind me of my favorite clouds, mammatus, so I always photograph them, when I see them. The fluffy white altocumulus against the crisp blue sky was a nice contrast. Of course, I was sitting at the stop sign in my neighborhood shooting pics out my window, when a neighbor drove by sharing the all too common "What-on-Earth-are-you-doing?! look" that I have come to know and love. I responded with a big cheeser grin. Do people not see the same sky I see? How can they not stop to appreciate it once in a while? God's canvas. Too magnificent of an art display to miss out, imo.

As for weather... well, it looks like tomorrow is forecast to be a big day, well to my west, and then an encore presentation, well to my east. Here I sit, in the middle basking in the nothingness of the Dewvoid... seriously, the slight risk covers everything far west of here, then things picks back up on the Georgia coast. Nothing I can Dew about it.

...CSTL CAROLINAS/GA... A LWR SVR PROBABILITY AREA WILL LIKELY EVOLVE ALONG THE CSTL PLAINS OF SERN GA NEWD INTO ERN NC THU NIGHT. ISOLD TORNADOES COULD ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER STORMS BEFORE THEY BECOME ELEVATED.

It's laughable how the weather seems to go around me... Trust me, if I chase it, it will vanish.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Severe weather... just not here....

Did anyone happen to notice that beautiful (albeit baby) squall-line traipsing across Southwest Georgia this morning? It was fabulous; little isolated cells embedded in a line working its way across just ahead of that "razor-sharp cold front". Did anyone watch as that beautiful squall FELL APART as it approached South Central Georgia, home of the infamous DEWVOID?!!!!! Yes, folks, I killed another one. That thing, by the time the Dewvoid got a hold of it was nothing but a cluster of showers, sprinkles really... Surprised? Of course not. This is science. Weather, more specifically, severe weather cannot exist anywhere near the Dewvoid. It's like a weather vaccuum... whereever I am, there is NO WEATHER... I don't have any captures of the squall because I was getting ready for work and simply did not have the time to stop and check it out. I was watching it on TWC, and I couldn't help but shout at Marshall "IT'S CALLED THE DEWVOID!!!!" when he said (and I quote)

"There were some storms in South Georgia, but that's kinda over now."

This storm did wreak some havoc, though (just not here). I heard reports of a church destroyed in Tennessee, where also a few children were injured, a couple of tornadoes in Kentucky, strong wind, hail and lots of rain, where this line really came through... Looks like Alabama and Tennessee Mikes were the contenders with this event. They have some excellent local coverage of the event on their blogs. This morning, you could clearly see with the temps where the cold front had already dropped temps in Altanta, and they are expected to continue to drop. The wind had picked up based on a live video shot up that way. Here, it's really cool on radar this morning, you can see the cold front. See it? You can see that it is just about to get here. Temps are about to drop. I love it when you can see the cold front on radar, watch it's progress across... very cool stuff. CWG, that's me.

Busy day for me, so I am going to skidaddle, but have a great day!!!

Toodaloo,
~Dewdrop