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

Blows me away!

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 yesterday's outrageous outflow wind event, I thought I would present my favorite outflow wind event.This is the shelf cloud in South Dakota, back in June 2007, that carried with it wind ranging from 60-70mph, stirring up a ferocious sand storm. It was spectacular, beyond words, and it really gave me some tremendous hurricane perspective. The specific storm front, was strong enough to blow over a tractor trailer traveling on the interstate. Here are some shots that immediately followed the above.

This shot is what I saw when I turn about 45° to my left. It truly was evil looking!:This was Diane filming Mel capturing video (we were shooting for a television show about storm chasing) of the approaching storm and the amazing shelf cloud, just before the outflow winds (straight-line winds) arrived:This shot was the sand just about to overtake us:Here, we have been overtaken by a wall of sand, visibility was down to 0!:It was one of my most memorable moments out there, especially since I didn't get to the tornado that occurred that day about 25 miles or so from where we were.
Yesterday's main weather story was the powerful and deadly wind field that was generated by the squalled out line of storms that resulted after Tuesday's tornadic event. Where my straight line wind event was generated by one very powerful storm segment, the squall line event yesterday produced a wall of damaging wind, hundreds of miles wide, which inspired over 300 wind damage reports. All the blue dots in the linked graphic above represent wind damage reports yesterday. Sadly, one fatality was reported in Davy, WV after the gym roof at Twin Branch Christian Academy collapsed. Another person near Monterey, TN, was injured when he was pinned in a car by a tree. It looks like a disaster area where this wind devastated much of the region, knocking out power to tens of thousands, including some of those just recovering from the ice storm power outage. This report caught my attention:

30-50 TREES DOWN OFF HIGHWAY 62 LITTLE HURRICANE TRAIL.

30-50 trees... Little Hurricane Trail...? In Tennessee...? Yes, folks, tornadoes can be horribly destructive, but straight-line winds, such as what we saw yesterday, can cause more wide-scale damage and devastation. Where tornadic damage is generally limited to the specific swath of the tornado, a straight-line wind event can wreak havoc across hundreds of miles as we saw yesterday.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

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