Took the long way home...

Well, Mini-Dew and I were traveling from the library to the pet store (needed hay for the giant rodent) yesterday evening, when I noticed that convection was rolling in hard out of the south... the Gulf feed was significant and it was a solid deck of moisture rolling in. I promptly let bf know that his topless time was over and that it was time to dress the jeep, and then I sat and photographed some of the towers going up there in the parking lot, which Mini-Dew was annoyed and embarrassed by, but she didn't get really irritated until later in the evening. Here are the early towers though.Now, that last one... that's my little storm cloud. That tower climbed and climbed, and I got to watch the whole thing as I drove through town, thinking... wow, that's nice... man, look at that thing climb... we've got ourselves a nice little storm... all the while snapping shots, while I was safely stopped at lights or pulled off the road (seriously, I had Mini-Dew in tow.) I really like the church one. Here, I was stopped just outside of a trailer park, where there was a patch of wisteria up against the fence... I couldn't get over how gorgeous they are up close. They look like little iris blooms. Who knew? Of course, you know what they meant I had to do... right?







You have to click on those to look at the larger pic. Beautiful purple wisteria blossoms... chasing Dewdrop style... They were so beautiful, I simply had to capture them with the cumulus tower backdrop...After that, I had all intentions of heading home, checking out radar, to get a good look at the big picture... which when I left for pain and torture was sporadic nothingness, at least where weather was concerned. Things were starting to feed in and fire, but nothing major, and I could see that much looking at the sky. I was almost home, when I decided to seek out a field to watch this little cell roll by. I couldn't get over how striking the structure was and to have it facing the setting sun... beautiful!!! There was absolutely no indication of rotation, so I felt comfortable with where I was. It was all just going up. It was magnificent, and it absolutely captivated me, where I was compelled and determined to watch the entire life cycle of my little storm cell, despite Mini-Dew's perpetual criticism... "Mommy, when are we going to go?" "Mommy, this is boring." "We aren't doing anything." "It's just a cloud." Somehow, she doesn't see the splendor that I see when I look at something as powerfully magnificent as a thundercloud. Oh well, we stayed until I was finished looking, so basically almost through dissipation. It was actually overtaken by the next, much larger thunderstorm before it fully dissipated, and... BONUS, the subsequent cloud actually had an associated shelf cloud. Coolness, AND bf had texted me about a green sky south of me... hail core punching with Mini-Dew... lol.

OK, no, I did not see a tornado. No, I didn't catch any lightning (it was sparse, and it just didn't seem worth the effort it would've taken). No, I saw no funnel cloud... not even a wall cloud, or even the most slight indication that there was rotation, BUT I was able to experience some awesome structure in my neck of the woods, and I chased it Dew-style.

Today, the action area appears to be northeast Texas and southeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. Let's see what happens. I stayed up on Steve Miller's (Oklahoma Steve's) forecast chat room last night to see what everyone thought of the set up. Lots of chasers will be out chasing this event today. I know both Steve Miller, OK and Steve Miller, TX will be out, both streaming live video of their chases, if that works out. I have a jam packed full day, and then I am off to Atlanta. I will update as time permits. I just hope all the chasers stay safe, and that those in the path of this potential tornado outbreak stay vigilant in watching conditions and listening to their radios. Unfortunately, today's severe weather outbreak will likely continue into the night. Looking at statistics, the tornado count for this year, so far, already more than doubles the 10 year average, and we are just now entering the "peak tornado season". It should be a very interesting day.

Toodles,
~Dewdrop