vtchaser77
2004 STORM CHASE LOG
|
Date |
Location |
Links |
Narrative (all times
Universal Time) |
|
6 March |
Stafford/King George counties |
Pre-frontal dry slot gave rise
to minimal instability allowing convection to build with CAPE indicated at
~500 for our immediate area. Headed
north at 1850 on “convection reconnaissance” and saw evidence of building
storms (northern convection pic) in northern Stafford. After witnessing convection to the south,
had to choose between heading further north into traffic to see cells with
precipitation or going south to hope for more buildup. After choosing latter option, arrived at
favored viewing spot on Rte 605 in King George county and could see lines to
north (see northern line pix) and to south (southern pic). Instability was so weak that any cell that
slid under a broken overcast immediately stopped building. Arrived home at 2005 having at least
scratched the itch after a convective hiatus of several months. |
|
|
13 April |
N/A |
STILL WAITING! Today was the best hope for chasing so far
this spring, and the *&%$^*(&)(^*!! cold air damming wedge kept all storms in far
southeastern and southwesternVirginia!
Will there be a Virginia chase before our Great Plains trek in May? |
|
|
1 May |
Stafford/King George counties |
|
I know, I know…I’m grasping at
straws trying to chase today. SPC Day
2’s show tomorrow with a slight risk, but I can’t wait any longer!! Today’s warm frontal passage combined with
CAPE near 1000 and LI’s around –3 led to some “convective showers” in the
area. (No lightning or thunder evident.) Left home (first time) at 1753 after
watching particular shower intensify on radar as it transited north from
Richmond vicinity. Arrived at hilltop
spot on King George county Rte 605 and watched as shower approached, with
outflow arriving at 1812 and rain beginning at 1813. Left for home at 1820 arriving at
1839. Watched radar some more and left
home again at 1917 for nearby church parking lot. As gust front neared a significant “bulge”
approached my location (see link).
While it never amounted to anything exciting (see links), it was balm
for my chasing-deprived soul. The gust
front arched from my position back toward the southeast (see link), arriving
with 20-25 mph winds and heavy rain at 1944.
Left after rain started and arrived home 1955. May tomorrow be fruitful!!! |
|
2 May |
Fauquier/Stafford counties |
SPC outlooked area for slight
risk (see link) both from pre-frontal and frontal storms. Left home at 2001 for Fauquier county,
which was just south of first severe thunderstorm watch issued for the
day. Arrived Opal 2040 in hopes of
catching SW-NE traversing systems ahead of front, which was still well west
of the Blue Ridge. Watched for a while
and then got a nowcast from my son at home (working on a term paper): front was hung up on West VA border and
didn’t look like it would make it east of the mountains before dark. Meanwhile, one storm over Louisa county
looked decent on radar and I could see the top from my position, so left Opal
at 2115. Arrived at new spotting
location in Stafford county just west of I-95 at 2145, the same time that
weak outflow and light rain hit. As I
was just south of the storm this didn’t last long, but was able to see
rain-free base at the back of the storm (see links). No lightning or thunder, but the trailing
updraft did seem to have a slight rotation.
Severe TS watch issued for our area at 2150, so I was hopeful, but
nothing exciting showed up so left for home, arriving at 2225 to watch
radar. Frontal activity did fire impressively
after 2330, with tornado and severe TS warnings all along the counties
immediately east of the Blue Ridge (not far from Opal!), but daylight was in
short supply at this point. Timing is
everything… |
|
|
7 May |
N/A |
|
Of course, the weekend I’m out
of town (and the weekend before we leave for a Great Plains chase) a monster
storm comes through our area, downing trees and snapping many of them 10 feet
off the ground in Stafford and King George counties. Official word from Sterling office was that
it was a wet microburst with winds estimated at 80-90 mph. We had 2.2” of rain indicated in our
backyard gauge. |
|
9 May |
Stafford/Fauquier counties |
|
Mother’s Day…SPC outlooked our
area for a slight risk. With CAPE over
2000, LI’s of –6 or better, and Td’s in the low 60’s had high hopes if
something would initiate storms.
Watching radar finally saw two cells intensifying over higher terrain
of Blue Ridge and heading east toward our area. Left home at 2105 for NW Stafford county,
then to SE Fauquier. As I drove I
could see both cells collapsing, with only a lone storm visible well to the
north (west of Leesburg). Still can’t
figure out why those cells died given the dynamics and no cap to speak
of. Headed home dejectedly, arriving
at 2300 with still no successful chase this year…haven’t even seen CG! |
|
10 May |
N/A |
|
Left work an hour early in
anticipation of chasing under another SPC slight risk, and no storms fired
anywhere near us. Cells initiated over
Blue Ridge and then died again over Piedmont, even with dynamics seeming to
support growth (or at least sustainment).
Tomorrow might provide one last (weak) chance for a chase before we
head west later this week. |
|
11 May |
Spotsylvania county |
Okay, okay…I didn’t really want
to chase this evening, but I couldn’t resist, especially when slow-moving
storms were firing just to the west.
After scoping out radar for 30 minutes or so at home, I noticed that
two cells were intensifying over Spotsylvania county and both were
back-building (retrograding) toward the west.
So, despite the typical late afternoon ugly traffic, I left home at
2145 and took a circuitous route to get behind the storms, one of which
indeed “pulsed” severe and had a warning on it for a little while (see radar
link). Other than seeing my first CG
of the season (finally!), I saw nothing else interesting as the cell which
had pulsed had moved further west.
Returned home at 2315. |
|
|
15 May |
SE Colorado |
Having arrived in Oklahoma City under less than
favorable circumstances (at 4:30 a.m. on 14 May if that provides any clues),
my son, my brother and I left town at 1500 heading for southeast Colorado to
vicinity of 5% severe probability. Saw
storm to west of Springfield CO at 2300 and parked on hill west of town. After taking pictures of train going by
with storm in background (see links), got chased off land and headed further
southwest. Storm had only a weak
short-lived wall cloud, but did have nice CG with heavy intermittent rain and
neat backlit undercloud features (see
link). Left vicinity and headed north to find lodging. While traveling saw huge anvil to east (see
link) from storm with Severe warning on it.
Wound up in Lamar CO at 0230 at the Cow Palace Inn (see link). |
|
|
16 May |
SW Nebraska |
Left Lamar at 1610 and headed
north toward North Platte, NE where storms were progged to fire north of
town. After reaching I-76/80 in far
northeast Colorado (at 2025) saw line of storms going up south and east of
our position, much earlier and further south than progged. Attempted tail chase of line on I-80,
eventually heading south through Nebraska hill country on circuitous dirt
roads, unsuccessfully chasing a huge rotating supercell with impressive
mammatus (see link) and pea-sized hail at 0015. Wound up in Holdrege NE at 0100. |
|
|
17 May |
Central Kansas |
Left Holdrege NE at 1600 and
headed south to Hays KS where we met up with my son’s OU chaser buddies. Wound up with “chaser convergence” (see
link) at a local hotel parking lot, waiting for storms to fire late
afternoon. When convection began in
earnest at 2150 left Hays heading west and south, with area under tornado
watch. Saw LP supercell to west with
lowering features (see link) that never materialized into anything special
due to cold air from front undercutting updraft. Headed south and east to view storm
structure and at 2330 heard tornado warning on storm to east near Russell
KS. Jumped back on I-70 and shot east,
following our OU chaser pathfinders and core-punching the radar “hook” (which
included vicious cross winds and occasional golf ball sized hail) and
entering the “Bear’s Cage” in order to get ahead of active wall cloud (see
links). No obvious funnels
materialized while we watched, and rotating wall cloud dissipated after 20-30
minutes of viewing from Wilson KS site.
(We did see the vehicle outfitted with IMAX cameras that some
less-than-sane chasers are attempting to punch through a tornado.) Headed east on I-70 to overnight in Salina
KS. |
|
|
18 May |
Central/Southern Kansas |
Left Salina at 1600 and headed
south to Wichita KS vicinity, with highest probabilities of severe weather
progged east of there and south of I-35.
Went east to Chanute at 2130 to check internet and found no radar
echoes visible anywhere near our area of Kansas. Headed back west 40 miles to rest stop at
2315, where we waited underneath a cloudless sky to see if anything would
happen. At 2340 noticed towers going
up well to west and north and sped in that direction. Saw lowered cloud base at 0030 and stopped
to investigate. After that dissipated,
headed northeast to inspect other updrafts.
At 0100 stopped on dirt road with two wall clouds in sight to
north. Watched as they grew and
dissipated, then saw feature to southwest that was sucking up scud from
ground level (see link). As it
approached it wrapped into a significant wall cloud, one version which
rotated rapidly less than a mile from us (see link) without dropping a
funnel. After it dissipated left
position at 0145 to head west and intercept state highway, plowing through
open range (and dodging quite a few cows) along the way. Arrived Wichita at 0315. |
|
|
19 May |
Eastern Nebraska / Western Iowa |
SPC Moderate risk for today,
with 15% hatched area for tornado probs (see link), so headed north from
Wichita at 1500 to northeast Nebraska to position ourselves in the
bullseye. Arrived at target
location in West Point NE at 2130
underneath thick overcast and haze/fog.
Called nowcaster in Norman to find that Moderate risk had been dropped
and we were only at western edge of latest slight risk. Headed east to western Iowa to see if
overcast would break. After waiting
there 45 minutes with nothing happening and nothing on weather radio, left at
2330 to head south for Lincoln NE, where we arrived at 0130 to see a few weak
updrafts die with sunset. Traveled 557
miles for another Moderate risk B-U-S-T!! |
|
|
20 May |
Eastern Nebraska / Northwestern
Missouri |
|
Again, forecast looked like
eastern NE would be a great position, just to the southeast of a cold front in
nice juicy air. Left Lincoln at 1730
to position ourselves, arriving in the Auburn NE vicinity at 1915. All we saw was overcast and a variable wind
indicating that we were probably right underneath the front. As we gave up in disgust and headed south,
we saw a few towers to the north and east, so gave chase until they all died
and the only convection visible was a large tower over northern Missouri that
was too far away and headed east. So,
headed for Kansas City to overnight prior to driving back to OKC for our
flight out. Another B-U-S-T accompanied by FBS (Flat
Bun Syndrome). |
|
22 May |
N/A |
|
Flew home today during a High
Risk which resulted in the largest tornado outbreak in quite a while in Nebraska
and Iowa…precisely where we were 48 hours prior! Timing truly is everything, and ours
stunk!! |
|
23 May |
Fauquier / Culpeper counties, VA |
To assuage my disgust at two
consecutive busts and missing a huge tornado outbreak out west, my
daughter and I chased a storm coming east from the Blue Ridge. Left home at 2000 and headed into Fauquier
county before realizing that southern part of cell had become dominant with a
severe TS warning on it (see link).
Headed south into Culpeper and then core-punched storm heading east to
a position 5 miles west of Wilderness at 2135. At 2145 storm reached us with heavy rain,
plentiful CG, two separate pea-sized hailfalls, and a very close rainbow (see
links). Returned home at 2245. |
|
|
25 May |
Spotsylvania county, VA |
With line of severe storms
progressing through Sterling forecast area, I picked out a warned storm
heading southeast from the Blue Ridge that was exhibiting rotation on doppler
radar (see link). Left home at 2255 and
headed south, then west into Spotsylvania county. At 2340 stopped at elementary school to
watch rotating wall cloud (see link).
May have seen a funnel (see link) but I couldn’t definitely say if it
was rotating, so it might have just been scud. Saw evidence of incipient inflow band (see
link) and called in rotating wall cloud to Sterling. Followed storm south and east until sunset
(see link), then headed home, arriving at 0045. |
|
|
31 May |
Spotsylvania county, VA |
SPC Day 1 outlook had us in 5% tornado
area (see link) so I paid close attention to any and all of the scattered
storms in the Piedmont area. With
tornado watch in place (see link) left home at 2110 for south central
Spotsylvania to intercept storms heading east over Madison and Orange
counties. Arrived at county high
school at 2140 with one storm to the southwest and one directly west (see
link), and decided to intercept storm to west. Headed further south to better viewing
position at 2150, just ahead of storm outflow and rain. Saw interesting features with a slight
tendency for rotation (see links), but no lightning or thunder was
evident. Arrived home at 2245 after no
other exciting things happened. |
|
|
10 June |
Spotsylvania county, VA |
With area underneath severe TS
watch (see link) left home at 2015 for local airport (EZF) to intercept
systems that appeared to be merging.
At 2037 saw lowered base to northwest that looked like a wall cloud
(see link) to the southeast of the main rain shaft. However, as storm approached thunder and
lightning lessened and the feature appeared more like a gustfront (see
link). Outflow from storm felt at 2103
and only a little rain fell. Back home
at 2135 radar loop revealed that system had collapsed while I was watching it
and had sent an outflow boundary to the north which fired a couple of storms
in Prince William county. |
|
|
16 June |
Fredericksburg, VA |
With area embalmed in tropical
air (but not under any SPC risk or watch) noticed while out shopping that the
base of a nearby shower seemed to be lowering and developing rotation (no
lightning or thunder evident). Stopped
in Wal Mart parking lot to observe and called in wall cloud to Sterling
around 2330. As my son and I watched a
very suspicious area of scud formed around the bottom of the wall cloud and
also caught the attention of a few shoppers.
Entire cell dissipated over next 5-10 minutes. |
|
|
17 June |
King George County, VA |
|
After running errands, watched
line of storms pass by to north and south of area (toilet bowl strikes
again!) until I couldn’t stand it any longer.
Given reflectivity and doppler signatures (see links) of storm over
southern Maryland plus a severe TS warning I headed east at 2315 to arrive at
the junction of U.S. 301 and the Potomac River in King George County at
2345. Thunder was ominous as was the
sky (see link). Returned home at 0015
with no regrets. |
|
18 June (a) |
King George County, VA |
Saw storms firing to northwest and
traveling southeast, so left work at 1815 to intercept cell with indicated
tops over 40k ft. and good reflectivity (see link). Just west of KG high school saw wall cloud
to north at 1840 and headed in that direction. Did not have camera, but checked with my
son for a nowcast who saw a slight rotation on doppler. As I watched storm the wall cloud gusted
out and the outflow took over, including heavy rain. Retreated south and watched for another 20
minutes but saw nothing else severe.
Arrived home at 2000. |
|
|
18 June (b) |
Spotsylvania county, VA |
|
After dinner noticed popup cells
to northwest of Warrenton that continued to grow in size and intensity (see
link). As they intensified an area of
rotation appeared on doppler (see link), so I left home at 2315 to intercept
apparently right-moving storm in northwest Spotsylvania county. Even at 2345 towers still looked good as I
maneuvered to get into place to view base.
However, by 0000 storm had collapsed, leaving me high and dry after
struggling into position in Friday evening traffic. Not having a lot of luck here... |
|
1 July |
Fauquier and Culpeper counties,
VA |
With area under SPC slight risk
and wanting to not be at work I left early. Leaving home at 1855 I headed up to
Warrenton area to pre-position for a chase.
Wandered south to Culpeper vicinity at 2130 to investigate a shower
but it dissipated soon thereafter. Cap
manifested itself despite good CAPE and LI’s...the few storms that did break
the cap (see link) became large right-turning supercells, with one just north
of DC, another around Baltimore, and a complex that passed near
Charlottesville and stayed south of I-64.
The “toilet bowl” again!!! |
|
|
5 July |
Orange county, VA |
|
After a “pseudochase” on Independence
Day (during which I saw nothing but rain), the next day a storm appeared
literally on the doorstep. We were in
the town of Orange for a family event when we heard artillery-caliber thunder
coming from a storm whose anvil we had seen over the mountains to the
west. Checking radar (see link) we saw
rotation indicated and decided to head west at 1900 to intercept it. With two chase vehicles we drove one mile
west to a hilltop motel location since the storm was bearing down on us
quickly. The gust front (see link)
showed signs of morphing into a wallcloud as the southern outflow edge
reversed back toward the rain shaft.
With heavy duty CG sizzling down all around our location, we decided
to retreat east to stay ahead of the rain.
While we did so the SPC issued a mesoscale discussion (see link) for
this complex. Staying on
eastward-leading county roads we were able to get ahead of it enough to stop
a few times for pictures (see link) and notice that the rotation tendency of
the gust front was still evident, but we never saw an actual wallcloud. Arrived home at 2030. |
|
6 July |
Stafford county, VA |
|
Under northwest flow and
subsidence did not expect convection to fire, but it did all around! While waiting at home for a workman to show
up several nice cells passed both to south and north of us. Fortunately an outflow boundary created a
complex directly upstream from us and at 2230 I left for local school parking
lot. While waiting for slow-moving
storm noticed a pronounced shelf cloud to the west (see link), so at 2250 left
for better position. 2256 doppler (see
link) showed significant winds and
seven minutes later I photoed (see link) an awesome shelf cloud
formation. After a few minutes feature
began to decay but was still neat-looking from the rear (see link). Left for home in rain, arriving 2315. |
|
7 July |
King George, Westmoreland, and
Spotsylvania counties, VA |
With SPC “See Text” over area
left work early in an attempt to intercept storms tracking NE. Decided to chase east to catch nice-looking
cell (see 1757 doppler link) with rotation features. Left home at 1808 heading for Westmoreland
county via King George county, but wound up in tail chase under funky
visibility. Turned around (see 1857
doppler link) near storm, wtih nice lightning displays visible but nothing
else, and arrived home 1950. After SPC
upgraded us to a slight risk I watched another line form on radar (see 2256
radar link) and headed southeast into Spotsylvania county along the
Rappahannock to watch storm approach.
As I parked at 2316 I saw another incredible shelf cloud in the
distance (see southern and northern photo links) and stayed to watch it
approach. As it did I could see three
layers of outflow stacked on top of each other (see 3 layer photo
links). As the shelf cloud got even
closer (see next three photo links) it became clear that the storm behind the
shelf cloud had dissipated, with rainshafts visibly thinning and disappearing
as I watched. At 2338 I felt the first
ground-level outflow and snapped several more photos as the cloud passed
overhead (last three photo links). The
outflow never exceeded 10-12 kts at the surface, so I left at 2348 and headed
home, arriving at 0003 to check the radar (see link) and see virtually no
precipitation associated with the final stages of this awesome shelf cloud. |
|
|
12 July |
King George and Stafford
counties, VA |
Noticed radar showing
approaching storms, with southern line traveling SW-NE and the western line
heading due east. Turned out we were
near a triple point with a weak surface low just north of town and a front
extending to the east. Left home at
2119 to check out southern storm and headed east to intercept, running into
outflow at 2132 (see link). Bulk of
cell was further to east than I wanted to go given the approaching western
storm (see doppler link), but it had some impressive lightning/thunder
couplets. Headed back west to
intercept next storm at school location and saw cool outflow features at the
leading edge (see link) and abundant CG.
Traveled a bit further east to try to intercept more vigorous area to
north but was unsuccessful. Returned
home at 2240 in heavy rain. |
|
|
13 July |
Spotsylvania county, VA |
With the lawn begging to be cut
I tried unsuccessfully to ignore a very acoustic storm passing just to our
west. The rumblings finally got to me
and I hopped in the chasemobile determined to take a peek but not chase too
long. Leaving home at 2235 I arrived
in New Post at 2254, but on the way I noticed what appeared to be a rotating
wall cloud (see link) somewhat south of the main storm, apparently attached
to another cell that was decaying.
Radar showed no rotation at 2258 (see link). Stayed at New Post until 2312 listening to
thunder and watching main body of storm pass by to the west. Arrived home at 2326 and promptly cut the
grass in anticipation of a better chase opportunity tomorrow (7/14). |
|
|
14 July |
Charles County, MD |
With area under SPC slight risk
I kept an eye on the radar, but when major storms began firing very early in
the p.m. I was caught out of position and still at work. Left at 1820 and headed north into Maryland
to catch southern end of line moving across Fauquier and Stafford counties in
Virginia. This was my first chase into
Maryland, and being unfamiliar with the area I had a difficult time
positioning myself near the storm’s track while finding an untreed spot from
which I could see something. I finally
got situated at 1935 across the Potomac River and slightly northeast of the Stafford/Prince
William county border. The storm now
had a tornado warning on it for Stafford county and was crossing the river
(see doppler link). As the leading
edge approached I kept an eye on a feature trying to rotate (see link),
watching as it picked up some definition (see link). Never saw anything more than this, so when
heavy rain and retina-burning CG’s began at 1945 I stayed put. Experienced 3 separate brief hailfalls,
with the first two pea-sized and the last one somewhat larger (judging mainly
by the sound difference). Left
position at 2010, arriving home at 2125 after driving through another cell
with torrential rainfall and abundant CG. |
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|
19 July |
Stafford county, VA |
Noticed cell to NW had slight
indications of rotation on doppler (see link) so I headed out the door at
2246, arriving at 2310 at a less than desirable viewing spot in western
Stafford county (too many trees!).
Storm approach was painfully slow, but lightning was fairly
plentiful. Saw no rotational features
so I waited until rain began in earnest and left at 2325, arriving home well
before line hit. Stood outside on
front porch and watched same line approach near dark. |
|
|
23 July |
Stafford county, VA |
None |
Line of storms associated with
weak cold front pushed in from NW, so I headed out at 2327 for a viewing spot
in western Stafford. Didn’t see much due
to abundant haze, low clouds, and the setting sun, but best cell passed
approx. 10 miles to the west of my position.
Arrived home at 0030. |
|
4 August |
Spotsylvania, VA |
With squall line approaching
northwestern Virginia I noticed a lone cell out ahead with possible rotation
(see doppler link) and decided to intercept it. Left home at 2218 and headed west into
Spotsylvania county, arriving at elementary school on Harrison Rd. at
2242. After viewing slow-moving storm
it became evident I needed to get further south, so I traveled that direction
on Gordon Rd., stopping at 2300 for water and to watch storm, which now
appeared to be dissipating. At 2315 I
declared it dead and left for home, arriving at 2345. Will I see any more decent storms before
the fall chase season in Oct-Nov.? |
|
|
11 August |
Fauquier, Culpeper, and Orange
counties, VA |
Area was ripe for an MD (see
link) so I watched radar and decided to head out at 1855, hoping that the
southern storms in the approaching line were as potent as the one headed for
the DC suburbs (see 1843 radar link), which eventually dumped out 1.5” hail
in northern VA. Headed northwest into
Fauquier county to intercept storms moving NE out of Culpeper and found upon
arrival in Bealeton that this cell had dissipated. Knowing there were more storms to the south
but unable to see them I headed toward Culpeper and was rewarded with dark
clouds to the southeast. Headed back
east and intercepted a ferocious rainshaft near Wilderness at 2015, with
almost instant ponding on the road and near-zero visibilities (see 2037 radar
link). Tremendous rain rate with
accompanying small hail lasted for a couple of minutes before diminishing to
more normal heavy rainfall and associated CG’s. Pulled off highway to watch but saw nothing
more of interest in the murk so I headed home, arriving at 2115. |
|
|
30 August |
Essex and Middlesex counties, VA |
With the remnants of Tropical Storm
Gaston heading north SPC forecasts had us under a 5% tornado
threat, which culminated in a tornado watch (see link) for the eastern
Virginia Piedmont. Left work and met
my son in Port Royal at 1730 to drop off a car and head southeast down Rt.
17. As we ran into increasingly heavy
rain squalls we kept hearing reports on a Richmond radio station of rotating
storms and funnel clouds just east of the city (to our south). Although we did see some CG while experiencing
wind gusts nearing 20 kts, the lowering ceiling and heavy rain played havoc
with visibility. Stopping in Saluda we
listened to the incredible rainfall rates that Richmond was experiencing and
decided that discretion was the better part of this stormchase. So we headed
back northwest rather than continuing south to pursue the rotating
cells. Good thing too, given the flood
damage and numerous road closures in and around Richmond caused by the 14” of
rain that Gaston deposited in
a few hours. |
|
|
8 September |
N/A |
The remains of Hurricane Frances imparted sufficient vorticity to the atmosphere to cause
a mini-breakout of tornadoes in our vicinity.
OF COURSE I WAS OUT OF TOWN!!! ( I was not even on the U.S.
mainland!) My son spotted a wall cloud
and reported a funnel cloud to Wakefield on the storm shown in the radar
image at left. My timing is impeccably
inconvenient this year for some reason… |
|
|
17 Sept (a) |
Fauquier and Culpeper counties,
VA |
WOW!!!!!! Talk about making up for lost opportunities…today’s
chase was utterly amazing with a record tornado outbreak (see SPC link)
occurring from the influence of Hurricane Ivan’s
remnants. Watching the conditions
ripen at work, I left early when a dry slot allowed the warm September
sunshine to destabilize the juicy atmosphere.
Left home at 1900 in a two car convoy with my son and his fiancée,
plowing through thick Friday afternoon traffic into Fauquier county to
intercept a couple of likely-looking storms that had looked promising but
hadn’t shown rotation before we left our computers. Upon reaching the Sumerduck vicinity we
ducked off Rte. 17 onto county roads and found an excellent vantage point
from which to observe a magnificent mesocyclone and wall cloud to our west
(see links for photo and two radar views).
Seeing the obvious rotation I called in a report to the Sterling
office, the net result being a 1955 tornado warning issued within 3 minutes
of my call (see link). As this storm
headed north we screeched back onto Rte. 17 north toward Bealeton, where we
had a full view of the storm over Opal (see link) as it produced two
simultaneous tornadoes. We maneuvered
northeast on Rte. 28 to intercept the storm via Meetze Road leading to
Warrenton. As we approached town we
ran into increasing amounts of debris on the road and drove by several side
roads just as local law enforcement was closing them down. We turned north onto Rte. 29, crawling our
way a half mile through blinding rain and traffic and…THERE IT WAS (see
link)!! The tornado was to our
northeast about 500 yards away and I snapped a few photos while traffic was
stopped. We then inched our way
northward, reaching the damage path where it had crossed Rte. 29 and turning
off on an eastward leading county road to escape the now bumper-to-bumper
traffic. As we all gathered our
thoughts we determined that to follow this storm further was foolish given
the traffic conditions. Besides, by
that time there was an abundance of tornado warnings for counties to our
south, meaning more storms were headed our direction. So we continued eastward and stopped when
the storm trailing its tornadic companion began exhibiting interesting
features. As we watched it too began
to rotate and lower (see photo and Doppler link). Unfortunately it was also nearing Rte. 29
and the accompanying heavy traffic, and we didn’t relish the prospect of
diving back into that maelstrom. While
we were deliberating a number of folks slowed to ask us about the weather
conditions, including a local deputy sheriff.
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17 Sept (b) |
Fauquier and Culpeper counties,
VA |
With multiple options
confronting us we now had to decide where to head next. One storm back toward Fredericksburg was
warned (see link) but we could have never reached it before it also escaped
into heavy Northern Virginia traffic.
Meandering our way back toward Bealeton on Rte 28 my trusty weather
radio squawked yet another tornado warning south of us (see link) that
appeared to be interceptable, so we vectored toward Opal again, stopping at
2145 at a local fast food joint to quickly relieve bladders and grab some
grease to go. Our two car caravan then
wound northwest toward Jeffersonton, fighting through increasingly blinding
rain that increased my apprehension about flash flooding on narrow county
roads. As we emerged from the heavy
rain I glanced back to my immediate south and realized why conditions had
been so tough. We had unwittingly
core-punched a rotating storm (see Doppler link)!! Signaling the other car I pulled off onto a
farm driveway and watched as a funnel swirled less than 200 yards southeast
of us (see photo) without touching down.
Fortunately the funnel remnants passed close by but not overhead,
allowing us to avoid a wild scramble to get out of its way. However I then realized that we were firmly
emplanted in the Bear’s Cage with the rotating wall cloud very obviously
directly above us. With three sets of
eyes nervously watching for additional funnels we allowed this potent
mesocyclone a few minutes to head north before we again gave chase. Unfortunately it retreated into a rural
region populated with narrow winding roads and we never really caught back up
to it. Given the waning daylight and
(unbelievably!) actually growing tired of hearing tornado warnings (see
tornado report link), we headed homeward to be greeted with a line of electrical
storms that supplied an imcomparable light show as we struggled through
traffic, arriving home at 2350.
Hopping onto the Net we found that even the Sterling forecast office
had been threatened (see Uh Oh! link) and that a tornado had been spotted less
than two miles from our house (see Leeland link). Tornado surveys link from Sterling WFO…text
in blue refers to tornadoes we saw, text in red refers to tornado near our
house. Survey plot link shows our 3
intercept positions in chronological order.
Best chase to date!!!!! |
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28 Sept |
Stafford and King George
counties, VA |
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With the remnants of yet another
tropical system (Jeanne) coming
through our area, a tornado watch was issued for our area (see link) and hopes
arose for a possible reprise of the Ivan
experience. Left work early, checked
radar at home, and headed out at 1755 to intercept a significant rainband
approaching from the south. I picked
out the cell with the highest tops in our area and settled in its path in
western King George county off Rte. 605.
Saw first lightning at 1820, with very heavy rain following at 1830
accompanied by 15+ knots of wind.
Never saw any rotation, altho’ there was a report in the local paper
of a funnel cloud in that vicinity (not a report that I believe,
however). Left position at 1845 after
cells passed through. Heard a
multitude of flash flood reports but no tornado reports and only one severe
TS report for the Baltimore area. Is
this the last of the incredible 2004 hurricane season? |
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16 Oct |
Stafford county, VA |
With the southern end of a cold
frontal convective line approaching and occasional thunder evident, took the
opportunity to experience a somewhat rare October thundershower. Left home at 2030 for local school vantage
point and photographed the southernmost cell at 2042 (see link). Only occasional CG and thunder, but one was
strong and close enough to rattle teeth…love that sound! As leading edge passed over wind gusted
near 30 knots, rocking the car briefly.
Arrived home at 2100, hoping for yet one more chase this fall before
the winter doldrums set in. |
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