Severe Weather Makes its Autumn Debut in the Southeast

It's Sky Watch Friday post time!! Please visit Tom, Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, and Imac's SKY WATCH BLOG to participate in Sky Watch Fridays, which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!! A huge thank you to Dot, the mother of this fabulous blogging event!!! It is so interesting to see skies from all over the world!!! Thank you to the the 200+ folks who offered compliments and encouragement regarding the sky watch intro and my regular post last week. I am humbled and honored by your kindness, and I am thrilled and privileged to be a part of something as incredible as Sky Watch Friday! In honor of local thunderstorms yesterday and today, I am posting a photograph of an incredible shelf cloud we experienced here last June as an isolated storm approached.

This shelf carried some gusty winds and incredibly low (almost to the ground) clouds, but it looked much more intimidating than it actually was. (Click here to read the post about my chase of this storm.) Regardless, the associated shelf cloud and subsequent lightning were a thrill to watch.

Yesterday's weather... well, it was a heavy duty tornado day in the southeast, with Alabama being hit the hardest and a few in Florida. The SPC missed the mark until it was already upon us. They didn't designate a slight risk until after a couple of tornadoes were reported in Florida. The preliminary tornado report count from yesterday stands at 11 tornado reports during yesterday's outbreak, with one occurring in Enterprise, AL, the city which was hit hard by that EF4 tornado back in March last year, which resulted in 9 deaths and 50 injuries. You can read more about that tornado here. Based on some pictures I saw of yesterday's damage there, it appears that it most likely was a significant tornado. Locally, last night, I was treated to a spectacular light show as I was driving home from Mini-Dew's practice, as frequent cloud-to-ground (CG) and cloud-to-cloud lightning offered the sky a purple glow. Due to life, responsibility, you know, dinner, homework, bed... all that stuff, I wasn't able to try to photograph any lightning yesterday, but I did enjoy and appreciate the show. It's been a long time since I have heard thunder, so that was nice. Speaking of that, a safety tip, if you hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning and should seek shelter INDOORS, IMMEDIATELY!

The guys at the SPC (Storm Prediction Center) wised up today... they have outlined an area of slight risk, which I am in the middle of... (of course, it's Thursday... not a chase day), and you can see that storms are already building there in south Georgia.

A BRIEF TORNADO CAN NOT BE RULED OUT.

(The radar capture on the right was taken at 9:00AM) Storms have already started to go severe this morning, with strong hail indications in nearby cells... I am located at the yellow plus sign. Of course, in true Dewvoid fashion (yes, I said it! Prove me wrong... please), the storm split, and some is going to my north and some to my south... here... NOTHING. I am not a storm chaser; I'm a storm repellent. The image to the left is the same storm 20 minutes later showing the dramatic split... yes, I am still at the yellow plus sign. At this time, my weather radio is going off regarding a severe thunderstorm warning in my east neighboring county... not here.

Have a safe and lovely day!
~Dewdrop