YOU are a STORM CHASER?!

I have to admit, it is quite the conversation starter.

"YOU are a STORM CHASER!?!"

I think if I were geographically located in the plains somewhere, it would be a bit less shocking, but being in south Georgia, I get quite the reaction. I often joke that I am geographically misplaced.

"You mean, you actually go out looking for tornadoes?!"

Well. Sort of.  I started back in 2006, shadowing a local storm chaser, learning everything I could about severe weather.  I started this blog, and I started connecting with storm chasers throughout the United States.  I made some great friendships in the process and learned so many tricks of the trade.  I really have enjoyed getting to know people who share the same passion for weather as me.  It's an interesting community, full of its own little soap opera-like drama.  We have this thing in common though that causes us to converge.

I actually had a great opportunity to chase in the plains in 2007 with the Twister Sisters, Peg and Mel. We were actually shooting a storm chasing reality show, so I got an all expenses paid ride where we went out to chase a high risk, potentially dangerous situation... and missed the one tornado (a high risk with a total of two tornadoes that whole day) by about 20 minutes.  We had just left the Badlands that June 7th. Talk about bummed.  Leave it to the Dewvoid to kill a high risk day.  I was actually jokingly threatened by local storm chasers to be shipped to Hawaii to keep from killing their storms.  My bad.

I love weather.  I love everything about it.  I am drawn to it from deep within, and I don't really understand that.  We actually discussed it on that same trip, at one point while driving somewhere between South Dakota and Iowa.  What is it about storms that seems to lure us in like a moth to a flame?  Are we just crazy?

Storms are destructive and unpredictable and DANGEROUS!! 

Seriously, what is wrong with me that I would be interested in pursuing something that I could truly describe as deadly??

The easy answer... I don't really know.

Some locals here might eloquently say it like this...

"SHE AIN'T RIGHT."

But... I know that when I look at the sky as it churns angrily above me, I am mesmerized.   I find myself almost lost in it, watching it as it dimples and dips and draws in moisture and climbs to amazing heights while it's rolling and swirling and blasting me with forceful winds and launching electrical strikes.  

I am in awe.
I am mystified.
I am drawn to its striking beauty.
I am seeing something that is truly out of my control and completely in God's sovereign hands, and I love it.

As a recovering control freak, I think that last part might be a huge part of it.  I am not in control, and God is.  I somehow find rest in that.  I find hope in that.  I find courage and strength in that.  I am drawn to that which is way out of my hands, that is so much bigger than me or anything I can pretend to control.  It gives me peace to let the storm be the storm and me be the one in awe of it.

That's why I chase... I think.

Have a super fantastic day!
~Dewdrop

  

What is heat lightning???

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! I am busy busy with stimulus yuck, so I might not get a chance to say hi. Please don't take offense. Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Ivar Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!

In honor of our summertime-like thunderstorms, I give you cloud to cloud lightning at night.This morning, I awoke to flashes of lightning, no thunder, just bright flashes of light, lighting up the dawning morning sky. Just moments ago (6:40AM or so), the National Weather Service in Jacksonville issued a severe thunderstorm warning including the county to my east, indicating that hail and wind were a definite threat from the supercell that was pressing southward out of Fargo, Georgia. Yesterday evening, we had the same, severe warned in the county just east of me, and 1 3/4" hail was reported in Fargo with that powerful cell. Here... of course, nothing but brilliant flashes of light, which might have actually been on the outskirts of that storm which was 15-20 miles away. We didn't even have rain...

Lightning without sound is referred to as "heat lightning". My parents used to tell me that "heat lightning" was caused by extreme heat and it's harmless. Many people actually believe that heat lightning is a "safe lightning", not necessarily true. Well, it is called heat lightning, but that really is a misnomer. Heat lightning is lightning with no audible thunder. It's not because it has no sound, but because it is too far away or changes in densities in the air affect whether or not the sound of the thunder is able to refract to us, so we can hear it.

If a lightning strike is a sufficient distance from the observer, sound from the strike will not be heard. These "silent bolts" are called heat lightning.

The movement of sound in the atmosphere depends on the atmospheric properties of the air such as temperature and density. Because temperature and density change with height, the sound of thunder is refracted through the troposphere. This refraction results in spaces of volume in which the thunder does not propagate through. The sound of thunder often reflects off the earth's surface. The rumbling sound from thunder is partly due to reflections off the earth's surface. This reflection and refraction leaves voids where thunder can not be heard (click here for an applet of this by Tom Whittaker.) Therefore, the Earth's curvature also contributes to people far from the strike from not hearing it. Thunder is more likely to be bounced off the earth's surface before it reaches an observer far from the strike. The reflection and refraction in the troposphere determines who hears the strike and who doesn't.

The term "heat" in heat lighting has little to do with temperature. Since heat lightning is most likely to be seen in association with air mass thunderstorms in the warm season, the term "heat" may have been used because these flashes are often seen when surface temperatures are warm.
~Meteorologist, Jeff Haby

As I said though, it is possible for density and temperature to affect whether or not the sound of thunder travels through the air, so potentially dangerous nearby thunderstorms can go unheard (not too common). So, "if you hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck" AND if you see nearby lightning, get inside! Lightning is a real and serious threat, always. Lightning strikes can (and do) occur outside of the audible thunder zone. Click on the above image for lightning facts about strikes "out of the clear blue sky". Play it safe. If there is a thunderstorm anywhere nearby, get indoors.

Speaking of thunderstorms, looks like a major concern for hefty severe weather, including a heightened risk for tornadoes. The Storm Prediction Center is expecting the next two days to be among the most active of the year for severe weather.






Folks in the northern plains, including Wisconsin should be very aware of the weather, and take any warnings seriously, as tornadoes are a serious threat today.

SEVERAL ROUNDS OF SEVERE STORMS WILL LIKELY AFFECT THIS AREA... COUPLED WITH STRONG DAYTIME HEATING AND DEWPOINTS IN THE MID 70S WILL YIELD EXTREME INSTABILITY WITH MLCAPE VALUES APPROACHING 5000 J/KG AND LITTLE CAP. FORECAST SOUNDINGS OVER SOUTHERN MN AND NORTHERN IA INDICATE THE RISK OF INTENSE SUPERCELLS FORMING OVER THIS AREA CAPABLE OF VERY LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND PERHAPS SIGNIFICANT TORNADOES.

Have a safe day... turn on your weather radios! (That includes you, sis!)

12:00pmEDT: Talk about Dewvoid... those watches might has well have been 1000 miles away... I am between them.Alas, the tornado probabilities have been redrawn...... and we are within an area with a chance of tornadoes...

Latest update: Apparently, I typed too loudly... Dewvoid, back in action.~Dewdrop

Pretty skies and severe weather

I would like to start today's message by saying the Vonage is a company of crooks. They have immoral business practices, and I am at my wit's end with them... if anyone can dispute that with credible facts, I welcome that. I have just filed my dispute with the Better Business Bureau. Grr...

Aside from that, we had some amazingly beautiful skies last night. I was returning home from picking the doggone dog up from Mini-Dew's dad's house, and I looked into the southern sky to see and amazing and largely swelled cumulonimbus cloud. Its western side, as it towered into the sky glowed a brilliant golden hue. It was quite impressive, and I just knew that it was producing hail. With updraft like that, it couldn't help but... it was well enough to my south southwest, and I had some super yummy white chocolate key lime cookies to bake for my wonderful groom, so I didn't bother. We've had plenty of thunderstorms lately, and I am holding out for the real mccoy. As I was gathering ingredients, my weather radio sounded... Severe thunderstorm warning for the county to my west.... hail and wind. Yeah, no doubt. I pulled up radar, where the VIL supported 1.25" hail. Ugh. Incidentally, there was a hail report of penny sized hail yesterday in Quitman, GA.Pretty random, eh? (No, I'm not Canadian.) Anyways, I don't have the radar capture, so you'll just have to trust me. Well, then, this amazing thing happened in the southern sky... the clouds lit up with all this amazing texture and an array of colors, and brought about this truly heavenly scene... God is a masterful Artist.

As the evening wore on, and we were about to sit down to eat, I put the doggone dog outside, and I looked up to see an amazing explosion of cloud to cloud lightning, in that amazing structure now to my southeast. I mean, the whole cloud had streaks of lightning lacing through it, brilliantly shining through in a lavender glow. I did the only thing I could do... I raced inside for my camera. Unfortunately, it had slowed down in frequency, and our mosquito population prevailed. I only got the tail end of one strike, not even worth posting, which is a downer, but... oh well. It was incredible to watch. So no, we're not getting all the severe weather that others are getting, and yes, we are dealing with heat indices approaching 110°F (yes, you read that right), but we still have AWESOME skies! I'll take it.

Speaking of severe weather, the Storm Prediction Center has outlined an area of moderate risk for severe weather once again.

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF...LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND A FEW TORNADOES OVER PARTS OF THE CENTRAL PLAINS LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT.
SOUTHWESTERN IOWA
EXTREME NORTHERN KANSAS
NORTHWEST MISSOURI
MUCH OF NEBRASKA

Once again, geographically misplaced, and a slight risk extends into ALL of Georgia... hey, it expanded, I am in the slight risk! :D

Toodles,
Dewdrop

Thunderstruck...

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! I am busy busy with stimulus yuck, so I might not get a chance to say hi. Please don't take offense. Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Ivar Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us! I figured that with thunderstorms expected to dampen about 2/3 of the country today (much of it severe, even, including in much of Georgia--slight risk for severe weather exists inside the green area), I would post a pic of one of my favorite thunderstorms. It was a very isolated thunderstorm with a large and dramatic and perfectly time explosion of cumulonimbus. This was such a memorable storm for me. I was amazed first by its impressive size. Then, of course, the sun hitting it just right, offering a Georgia peachy thunderstorm. At one point, there was a faint field of mammatus present, which I haven't counted in my 4 times because it lasted 2 seconds, and it wasn't terribly impressive. The storm fired cloud-to-cloud lightning for more than an hour, and it was completely stationary. It lit up the sky as day turned to night. OK, OK, it was pretty spectacular with the sunset lighting it up with pink and orange (and everything in between). It was just so short-lived.

Looking at it though, there is some significant thunderstorm activity expected over a great deal of the country. Besides hail, wind and tornadoes, which can be expected in severe conditions, folks in the brown outlined area should be mindful of conditions around them, especially during the summer while people are outdoors more and swimming... flash floods are possible, and a great threat exists with lightning, which has seemed to take lives daily lately. If you hear thunder, GET INDOORS. It's as easy as that. If you hear thunder, you ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK!!! Be safe.

Have a great day!
~Dewdrop

Having a wild time!!!

So, onto my summary of Memorial Day... what a day! I gathered up Mini-Dew and her 3 friends and we were off to Wild Adventures, a local amusement and water park. The girls had a great time riding on the various rides, and I followed them around, occasionally riding to fill a spot where one or more didn't want to ride something. The weather started out perfectly, blue skies, fair weather cumulus sparingly scattered amongst the sky,... but I knew the forecast and the summer-like pattern of regular afternoon thunderstorms, so I kept a watchful eye on the sky, as the field of cumulus build into towers and started to really fill in the sky, heavy with nimbus. As that occurred, I warned the girls that if they wanted to get over to the water park and ride the new Wahee Cyclone (seriously, a weather related water park ride!!! Honestly, I wanted to ride it!) ... then, we would need to head on over to the water park portion of the park before the storms arrived. ... "just one more ride on black foot falls????"... "just one more time on the bridge...???"... so, by the time we got over to the water park, it looked like this, and the first lightning came while the girls were in line for the Wahee Cyclone. The bottom fell out and lightning strikes were blazing all around us... the specific cell impacting us had pea sized hail potential according to Jay and Alabama Mike, and the lightning strikes were 15 in 30 minutes... or about 2 in five minutes... In the above shot, the lifeguards are establishing a 6 foot perimeter around the water, while the one lifeguard is not so wisely standing in the water... during a thunderstorm... bottom right.No matter what kind of pull I had (Rick works first aid in the water park, and was actually working at that time...), we couldn't get them to open the water park for the 20 remaining after the lightning clearance, so the girls missed their shot at trying out the Wahee Cyclone, and so did I. Mini-Dew actually gave Rick "the hand" for not having more pull. They did open the rest of the park though, and the girls were content to keep riding the rides. Though he couldn't get the water park to open back up for us, he was instrumental in hanger procurement. Thanks, Rick. You helped my wonderful groom tremendously.

Leaving the park was actually my favorite part of the day... there was some amazing thunderstorm structure on the horizon. The girls really razzed me about stopping 10,000 times along the way home to shoot that... oh well.Here's a random shot from while we were at the park, which my wonderful groom suggested I share with coke... How about this for a coke commercial... ??
In other news, looks like the guys at the SPC have added an area of slight risk for severe weather to parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee and a tiny sliver of Illinois. I am sure Vortex2 is all over it!

Have a fab 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