I watch the weather. I like to storm chase, but rarely do. I have some criteria.
1. Storm must be close, within 25 miles of the house. Gas prices and wear and tear on the car and all that.
2. Storm must be easy to maneuver around. Good visibility. Nothing rain wrapped. No lines of storms, not punching the core, ever. No night chasing. That eliminates quite a few more.
3. Must be able to let someone know what I am doing and where I am going. My first storm chase, when I was stationed at Redstone Arsenal, AL, I just took off. Sitting in the Burger King drive thru, watching the skies. Tornado warning alert comes on. Oh, storm is right up the road, I can just hit the Parkway north and get close. So I did that. No cell phones then. Got close to the tornado, realized this was stupid and went home. To a boyfriend who was frantic, wondering where the hell I was as he and the rest of the soldiers in the barracks were on the lowest level waiting for the storm to pass.
4. I like pictures of the storm structure, so I stay at least a mile out, minimum. Satellite tornadoes are a thing, a thing I have no interest getting close too. Generally I’ll stay 2-3 miles away, try to find a high spot for a good pic. Not easy on the plains when you have a moving target for a photo.
So for at least a decade, there haven’t been any storms meeting my criteria.
However, every year, I see at least one funnel cloud dancing around that I can watch from my yard. The derecho with the haboob feature from two weeks ago, came right over the neighborhood. Now this, at a bit after 4 AM.
THUD…THUD...THUD. The lower the pitch, the bigger the stone.
Just planted my garden last week.
We have one car sitting outside.
Our roof needs replacing soon.
Ugh.
Run downstairs, because if there is large hail, the storm has very strong winds keeping them aloft. Sometimes tornadic. Best to be safe. I look out the window. The lightning is constant. I can see the large hail stones lit by the lightning. Biggest I have ever seen.
I want to go out and grab them but lightning. I know the stats. I did open the door for a second. Thought I could hear faint tornado sirens but was unsure as the thunder was constant and loud. I did notice a tornado warning was issued for this storm once I checked, just east of my house. We are all downstairs. We listen to the thud-thud-thud.
I wait til the storm passed completely and do a quick recon of my yard. It’s dark but I do my best. I have to see how large these hailstones are and check the car. Tons of leaves stripped from the maple trees, but that seems to be it. The car looks fine.
I grabbed a handful of the hail stones. That are all large, very few small hail stones. Better yet? They are scattered about, yet not thickly. Maybe a stone every foot or two. We took a walk around the block at the dimly-lit dawn. Only one car with a punched in windshield up the street. I’ll check the garden once I have full daylight.
Thank you weather gods!
Short video if you want to see the lightning and the yard with the scattered hail stones. But the main photo here is the money shot.
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If you look at the NWS Severe Weather Outlook map, we are due for more severe weather tonight. Enhanced risk. And tomorrow too!
NWS Severe Weather Outlook
Hope along with me that any tornadoes keep to pasture, and leave people and property alone.
And no more hail!
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Yeah, climate change is real and absolutely having an impact.