Day 1: Driving away from severe weatherPosted May11, 2008 at 11:57 PMNORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- There were 20 tornado reports from Ohio to Georgia on Sunday, and scores of hail and wind reports, some from our own backyard in Southwest Virginia. But our group of 12 storm chasers drove away from all of that. We encountered a brief round of gusty squalls with a few flashes of lightning in northeast Tennessee. That was it for storms on the first day of Storm Chase 2008. What we ran through over northeast Tennessee was the same cluster of storms developing that would later affect Southwest Virginia. A split in the morning precipitation shield, followed by some breaks in clouds in some areas allowing the sun to shine, cause the atmosphere to destabilize more than earlier expected much farther north than severe storms had been forecast. With upper air wind currents blowing strongly in different directions, this caused many storms to develop rotating updrafts, which led to hail, gusty winds and even some tornadoes. But these storms were racing 50 mph or greater through hilly, tree-covered terrain. And we wanted to be in position for a possible Tuesday intercept of what may be a very potent severe weather situation in the open plains of Texas and Oklahoma. So, though we monitored and watched the severe weather situation unfold, we only briefly connected with today's storms, and kept moving west. Our student leader, Sandy LaCorte of North Carolina-Asheville, even alerted family and friends as she watched on radar as a tornadic storm moved close to them on the outskirts of Charlotte, N.C. Going for the two in the bush rather than one in the hand, maybe. More likely, we are opting for a flock in the wide open Plains rather a couple of fast-moving, hard-to-see tweeters in the Eastern U.S. thicket. MONDAY: Likely a travel day west from our overnight abode here in North Little Rock, Ark., to near the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas, getting us in position for a possible severe weather outbreak on Tuesday. |
About this blog
Kevin Myatt works on the copy desk for The Roanoke Times and is its principal weather geek, writing a weekly weather column and advising the newsroom on weather topics. He helps guide students on a storm chasing trip to the central U.S. each May and was an editor for "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States." .....Advertisement.....
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Comments
[May 12, 2008 9:14 PM]
Kevin MyattWorking on adding pics to the audio segment to make it a soundslide.
[May 15, 2008 9:24 AM]
Dwayne Yancey : →http://www.botetourtview.comWe've now added visuals to the first day's installment, so eeven if you listened before -- now you can take a look and see some of the storm chasers in action.