Possible Severe Weather

2010-03-12T10:53:00.005-05:00

Here we go.. The start of the 2010 Storm season. The area is in a slight risk zone for today.. Storms have developed to the southwest in TN and are moving north with an eastward drift to the system..

Im all ready for this to be the day we get something....

SPC mention chance for super cells and large hail with a tornado or 2 not out of the question...

Time to sit and wait... Will update as soon as anything happens.

12:10pm Update...
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
KENTUCKY...THE BLUEGRASS REGION OF KENTUCKY...AND SOUTHEAST INDIANA
UNTIL 7PM EST...6PM CST.

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST TODAY. THE HEAVIEST STORMS
ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE EASTERN PORTION OF SOUTH CENTRAL INDIANA AS
WELL AS NORTH CENTRAL AND EAST CENTRAL KENTUCKY THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING. THE MAIN THREATS ACCOMPANYING THE STORMS WILL BE
HAIL...GUSTY WINDS...AND LIGHTNING.

Update....
No Severe Weather in area.... Did get 2 severe storms that passed within 30 miles of location. Lots of rain here with some thunder but nothing to write home about this time...

The sunset was awesome.

12-08-09 Wind possible severe event tonight

2009-12-08T05:45:00.004-05:00

From the SPC Day 1

...LOWER OH AND TN VALLEYS...
STRONG LOW LEVEL WAA COMBINED WITH COLD MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES/
STEEP LAPSE RATES SPREADING ACROSS THIS REGION TUESDAY EVENING/
NIGHT WITHIN EXIT REGION OF A 100+ KT MID LEVEL JET NOSING INTO THIS
AREA SHOULD SUPPORT ELEVATED TSTMS. THE STEEP LAPSE RATES WITH
ACTIVITY ROOTED AROUND 850 MB AND EFFECTIVE BULK SHEAR 30-35 KT IS
EXPECTED TO SUPPORT AN ISOLATED THREAT FOR HAIL... POTENTIALLY UP TO
1 INCH. THIS ACTIVITY WILL DEVELOP EWD ACROSS SRN IND/KY/TN TUESDAY
NIGHT.

From Louisville NWS:
A strong weather system will affect the Ohio Valley beginning today and lasting into Wednesday. Low pressure over Missouri will rapidly intensify and move northeast to Chicago. Rain is expected across Kentucky and southern Indiana starting this morning...then will increase in intensity tonight. Rainfall amounts will likely exceed one inch in most locations. Along with the heavy rain...a few thunderstorms are also possible, especially across south central Kentucky late this evening. Strong gusty winds are possible with any thunderstorm development.

A cold front will move through the region Wednesday morning ushering in much cooler air. The low over the Chicago area will also help to create very gusty winds with the falling temperatures. Wind gusts in excess of 50 mph are possible Wednesday. Temperatures will start off Wednesday in the mid 40s, but will fall into the mid 30s by afternoon. There may be enough moisture behind the cold front to produce a few snow showers Wednesday...but accumulations if any, will be light.

Now time to sit and watch everything unfold tonight.... would be nice to get a severe event in December....

12-06-09 Lexington Forecast

2009-12-06T15:05:00.001-05:00

Just for the heck of it and since its been a while since i did an actual forecast here's one for the Lexington area for the next few days

Lexington Point forecast.

Sun 7pm: 35f, no precip, wind 5-10 ese, Clear
Mon 1am: 25f, no precip, Wind 5-10 se, Mostly Clear
Mon 7am: 29f, no precip, wind 0-5 s, Mostly Cloudy
Mon 1pm: 42f, Light Rain after 2 pm wind 10-15 SW, Cloudy
Mon 7pm: 40f, Light Rain, wind 0-5 WSW, Cloudy
Tue 1am: 35f, Light Rain Event Total 0.10 inches, wind 0-5 variable, Mostly Cloudy
Tue 7am: 30f, no precip, wind 0-5 NE, Partly Cloudy
Tue 1pm: 37f, Light Rain after 3pm, wind 5-10 SE, Cloudy
Tue 7pm: 39f, Light Rain, wind 10-15 SE Gusting 20-25, Cloudy
Wed 1am: 45f, Moderate Rain ch/thunder, wind 10-15 S, G 25-30, Cloudy
Wed 7am: 51f, Light rain before 5 Am event total 1.10 inches, Wind 15-20, G 25-30, Mostly cloudy
Wed 1pm: 65f, no precip, wind 20-25 G 30-40 WSW, Scattered Clouds
Wed 7pm: 40f, no precip, wind 15-20 WSW, Mostly Cloudy

Rain and maybe some snow is possible Monday no accumulation expected Rain totals of less than a tenth of an inch.

Winds will become gusty Tuesday into Wed with gusts as high as 40 mph possible.
Rain will begin Tuesday afternoon and rain will be light until the overnight where periods of heavy rain are possible along with a rumble of thunder or two, Rain totals of 1.10 inch possible.

12-05-09 First snow of the 2009 Winter Season

2009-12-05T09:35:00.001-05:00

Waking up this morning to a horrific sight... a thin white blanket of snow.... Yes i hate snow... So this was kinda depressing.. anyways its the first snow of this winter season so i had to get a few pics.

11/09/09 Sunrise Halo

2009-11-09T10:53:00.003-05:00

With (at the time) Hurricane Ida in the gulf up here in Ky we usually get some cool sunrises and sunsets a day or so before they make landfall... this wicked sunrise was waiting for me on the way home from work....

This is a HDR (High Dynamic Range) image (gives color tones a wider range) made from 3 exposures.

Photo is now featured on the NWS Louisville websites Top News Story.

All Hallows Eve

2009-10-31T20:17:00.010-04:00

Another fine display from the sun. Sunset on Oct 31,3009 totally awesome colors

10-30-09 Wicked Sunrise

2009-10-30T08:19:00.001-04:00

This morning I got treated to one of the better looking sunrises i've seen in a while. the clouds lit up like they were on fire. It was an awesome sight.....

10-23-09 Wet wet wet

2009-10-23T17:50:00.000-04:00

Well so much for thunderstorms it just rained for the most part all day... Then just before sunset the clouds broke and got a great view of a rainbow that was very bright against the dark rain clouds.

10-09-09 Strong winds

2009-10-09T06:31:00.000-04:00

Early AM line of strong storms with a history of 70-80 mph winds was approaching the area.. unfortunatly these storms died off as soon as they got into visible range... (typical) we did get some good 45-50 and maybe a 60 mph gust as the leading edge passed by. it did have some lightning but again this was dying off fast and in the heavy rainfall it was impossible to get any kind of shots.

What we did get was a few pics of a deteriorating shelf cloud as it came closer.

Fist view of the shelf off in the distance.

Shelf cloud more visible in the lights...

09-21-09 Storms w/Heavy Rain

2009-09-23T01:34:00.008-04:00

After a day of heavy rainfall we ended up getting some actual thundertorms, there were 2 cells one to the west of me which was fairly weak and another to the east, this one was a bit more organized...

08-17-09 Lightning

2009-08-17T23:40:00.000-04:00

Cluster of rain approached from the southwest, shortly before it reached us it became electrically active. Again as the storm grew closer we spotted another shelf cloud. this passed overhead but luckily it was the eastern edge of the cells and we got little rain and lots of lightning as the cell passed about 4 miles west of our location.

08-15-09 Lightning

2009-08-15T22:27:00.004-04:00

Small pop up storm developed over eastern Fayette county around 9:45 pm This storm spit out a few decent air bolts before it fell apart as it drifted northward.

8-11-09 Midnight Storms

2009-08-12T08:49:00.001-04:00

After 11 pm a small cell developed over northwest Fayette county and drifted to the southeast with clear skies ahead of it there was a good photo op for lightning . a few pictures came out well most were in cloud flashes in the mid levels of the storm but a couple were cloud to air discharges. when the storm passed over it did have a shelf cloud associated with it.

08-10-09 Lightning

2009-08-10T23:05:00.002-04:00

While in the north end of Lexington with a great view some storms moved into the area just before sunset and lasted till it got dark. managed to capture a couple shots of lightning after dark and a very weak shelf cloud before the sun set.

08-04-09 Severe Storms

2009-08-04T18:22:00.001-04:00

Thunderstorms rolled across the area today bringing damaging winds and heavy rains along with very intense lightning. Around 245pm Severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Fayette county, By this time we were already set up at a great spotting location on the Fayette/Jessamine county line, At first the sky didn't look much different from any other storm but when the shelf cloud came into view we knew it was more than we expected. the shelf drew closer and we could make out significant lowerings behind it. Then off on the horizon we could see the advancing rain as more and more of the details of the horizon vanished. After the shelf rolled overhead, we observed what looked like a gravity wave about 2 miles behind the leading edge, this is the area that several funnels were seen, none became anything significant.

It was around this time a car pulls up behind us and out steps Bill Meck, WLEX Channel 18's Chief Meteorologist. (One of the best met's Turns out hes on vacation and had a chance to enjoy the storms in person rather than being in the studio during them. We chatted a few minutes and said our goodbyes as the precip started to reach us..

When the rain hit it came down hard and fast , within minutes streets were starting to flood over, As we headed back for the house bri decided to check something out near his house and WOW, looked like a small waterfall pouring out from behind his yard, water was a few inches deep about 10 ft wide and was moving very fast.

Probably due to a storm drain back there being clogged.

Power outages, Flooded and closed roads and tons of lightning strikes were common around the Lexington area this afternoon... with the front hanging around the region well just have to wait and see what we get tomorrow....

Until next time

1.5 inches of rain in less than an hour caused excessive runoff issues across the county

Radar @ 2:55 Pm

Base Velocity Radar @ 2:55Pm

Radar @ 3:14 Pm

07-25/26-Storms

2009-07-26T14:15:00.001-04:00

On this day storms seemed to want to bypass Lexington, We had a storm go over at around 7 am after that storms went all around us..... Until.... Around 7 pm a couple cells developed to the west over Anderson county and we decided to intercept them as they crossed into northern Jessamine co. Looking for the golf course we ended up punching the core on the way back north. found a place on Harrodsburg road that offered a good view. There was some heavy rain and a bit of lightning. nothing spectacular. After that cell moved on we went back to Lexington for a few hrs to monitor a line of storms near Louisville..

As the line grew closer we could see it was going to affect the northern scott county area, so we took off for scott county to put ourselves just south of the storms, This didnt work out too well since the storms started to expand and other small cells developed across the area as well.

After not finding a good spot to shoot from it was decided to head back south to northern lexington, we figured that should be well out of the precip... again that didnt work, we set up in the back part of Masterson station park, watching the intense flashing coming from the northwest and west, after about 20 minutes or so we spotted the shelf cloud cresting the horizon. It was a fast mover and its outflow winds were roughly between 35-45 mph. Again to get out of the precip we headed south again. What a drive.... very intense rainfall water covering roads and the constant flashing of lighting made the drive south interesting... We got to our spot on west reynolds rd where we have shelter from the rain and we set up there and spent the next couple hours there shooting and running video. Lots of lightning but not much that was photogenic.

Between storm cells we spotted what at first looked like a large tornado on the ground... It wasnt, but will be what i will class as a scudnado, Low level moisture condensed into a fog like area which was being pulled upwards and rotating in 4 discreet columns before it dissipated a few minutes later. was a strange and very interesting feature i have not seen before.

All in all it was a really great storm.....

Note: between 2.5 and 3.5 inches of rain fell during this storm

Intercepting Afternoon Storm in Jessamine County

Intercepting Afternoon Storm in Jessamine County

Rain Core passing just to our southwest

Cell heading off to the east

Intense Storms as seen from Masterson Station Park

Intense storms from Masterson Station Park

Just before the shelf cloud (Masterson Station park)

Shelf Cloud approaching Masterson Station

Strange rotating mass of scud, At one point there was 4 columns of rotating scud...
As seen from West Reynolds rd.

July 10, 2009 20th anniversary of the Watertown Tornado of 1989

2009-07-11T09:28:00.009-04:00

Map of the tree fall path from July 10,1989 Connecticut.

Map and wind speed estimates (F-Scale from Bantam)

Bantam Ct July 10,1989

Cornwall Ct July 10 1989

Crystal Rock Water plant Watertown Ct July 10,1989

Watertown Ct July 10,1989

Exchange Place (South Main @ The Green) Waterbury Ct July 10,1989

The Green, Waterbury Ct July 10,1989

East Main St, Waterbury Ct July 10,1989

Beacon St, Waterbury Ct July 10,1989

July 10, 1989 Photo of a street in Hamden Ct

On this day or should i say yesterday 20 yrs ago one of the largest tornado families moved across western Connecticut, I am lucky to be one of those who was in the storm and got to witness first hand the power of an f-4 tornado up close and personal...

Now that im in Kentucky i have yet to see a storm with such power. and on this day 20 yrs later mother nature decided to give me a reminder of the past. Granted it wasn't anything really severe but it did have a bit of rotation to it.

06-25/26 09 Storms

2009-06-26T12:10:00.010-04:00

On the afternoon of the 25th intense lightning producing storms moved over the area.
No warnings were issued but hail was reoported and winds cloese to 50-500 mph in places. And got a chance to use the new camera with a close storm that was cooperating with me.... The first storms were tornado warned as they were a few counties north of here, The rotation was still in progress as it came over our area as seen in the photo..

I do have video of the events as well as over an hours worth of audio .. the vid will be added to youtube later today...

06-20-09 Early morning severe event

2009-06-20T17:22:00.006-04:00

After waiting all day and most the night for that line of storms to drop down out of Indiana, I almost gave up on it as the line crossed the Ohio river around 4 am. The line had weakened significantly and lightning was becoming sparse at best. but to my suprise the southern edge of a dying bow segment re-initiated and became severe warned as it came into northern Fayette county. At 5:48 It became severe, I was watching from the front yard to the west as the sky flashed very frequently and even a few bolts managed to peek out from the side of the approaching storm.

With daylight starting lightning shots were becoming more pointless as the sun had already turned the sky a dark blueish color and exposures were mostly washed out. there was enough light as the storm just passed to my north by 2 miles that structure shots became the priority. the following are a few of those shots.

Note, Trees were downed in Georgetown about 15-20 miles north of my location.

Not quite sure what the feature in the above shot is.. Funnel maybe or just weird vertical column of scud.. But i do know there was alot of motion to the rear of the cell

06-18-09 Severe Storms

2009-06-18T15:28:00.005-04:00

A deracho that made its way from central IL into central Ky this morning brought with it extreme lightning, damaging winds and hail to the region. The fayette county area was mostly spared as the northern edge of the line hit southern Lexington, Winds reached 54 mph and a large rotating wall cloud and attendant funnels were observed over the man o war - tates creek road area

06-17-09 Close Severe Storms

2009-06-17T18:30:00.006-04:00

With a warm front stalled across the area storms set up just to the south of the Lexington area. Again tornado warnings south in the Garrard county Pulaski county areas, Wall cloud was seen approx 10 miles south of my location, other persons photographed a funnel out of this same wall later on after it left our sight.

06-16-09 Tornado BUST

2009-06-16T21:30:00.003-04:00

Headed south to lincoln county to try and get ahead of the apex of a large Bow Echo.
Since we had to be back in Lexington by 6:30 we couldnt head as far south as we wanted and ended up missing out on the tornado that developed about 30 or so miles south of our location on the other side of the rain that overtook our location in Stanford Ky. On the way back we did run into a torrential downpour and almost watch a semi hit some cars....

06-10-09 Shelf Cloud

2009-06-10T20:23:00.003-04:00

The afternoon of the 10th a storm moved into the fayette county area with an impressive triple layer shelf. the storm weakend as it passed over us but it was still a great looking storm at first.

06-03-09 Borderline Severe

2009-06-03T23:32:00.005-04:00

On this date pop up cells started late in the afternoon just before sunset. at one point we were surrounded by 4 strong storms with nothing immediately overhead we observed what appeared to be a wall cloud at first with a hail core . then it appeared to develop a weak vortex underneath it. there was rotation within this and the updraft above it. that lasted about 5 minutes or so then the light show began as the storms moved on to the north and east...

Possible Derecho Event today

2009-05-08T14:01:00.004-04:00

Severe thunderstorm watch issued for area until 7Pm, Very impressive derecho event shaping up to the west Moving eastward.. Winds in excess of 80mph are expected....

And now we wait...

Update: No major damage in the lexington area but just to the south in Madison county got nailed:

EF-3 in Eastern Garrard and Madison Counties

A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY TEAM HAS INVESTIGATED STORM DAMAGE IN MADISON AND EASTERN GARRARD COUNTIES.
THE SURVEY TEAM HAS FOUND DAMAGE CONFIRMING AN EF-3 INTENSITY TORNADO.

THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN IN EASTERN GARRARD COUNTY IN THE NINA
RIDGE ROAD AREA...WHERE IT CAUSED SOME EF-1 DAMAGE...AND REACHED
UPPER EF-2 INTENSITY BEFORE CROSSING INTO MADISON COUNTY.

NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAYS 1295 AND 52 IN MADISON COUNTY...
THE TORNADO REACHED UPPER END EF-2 TO LOWER END EF-3 INTENSITY. NEAR
THIS INTERSECTION...TWO ADULTS WERE KILLED WHEN THE MOBILE HOME THEY
WERE IN WAS PICKED UP AND THROWN BY THE TORNADO. THE BODIES OF A 35
YEAR OLD MALE AND AN ADULT FEMALE WERE RECOVERED FROM A NEARBY POND.
FIVE OTHER OCCUPANTS OF THE MOBILE HOME...INCLUDING THREE CHILDREN
...WERE INJURED. OF THESE...AN ADULT FEMALE HAS BEEN PARALYZED FROM
THE NECK DOWN...AND A FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD SUFFERED A FRACTURED SKULL
AND A BROKEN LEG.

THE TORNADO FOLLOWED AN INTERMITTENT PATH TO THE SOUTH OF RICHMOND
...THROUGH THE WACO AREA...AND CONTINUED INTO ESTILL COUNTY. THE
SURVEY TEAM IS STILL INVESTIGATING THESE AREAS...AND WE WILL PROVIDE
MORE DETAILS AS THE TEAM REPORTS TO THE FORECAST OFFICE IN
LOUISVILLE.

Lightning 05/07/09

2009-05-07T11:03:00.002-04:00

Strong storms developed overnight just south of Lexington and put on a decent display of cloud to cloud (Crawler) discharges. Most was too distant or just my timing was off but one decent pic that came out well is below.

Good Friday Storms 4-10-09

2009-04-11T04:06:00.004-04:00

Well Interesting day indeed. Not thinking much of yesterdays activity i decided to brush it off for most of the morning, Thats when all hell broke loose, .75 inch hail reported near my location to the southeast and tornadoes dropping about 13 miles east of us. Didn't get to chase today due to work and the kiddies but oh well theres next time.

From my location I did see a nicely developing wall cloud, A gravity wave and a strange brown rainshaft...

it was a good day for storms none the less... The weather cam did well this time and heres a time lapse of the storms passage, * Note * when the cam changes angles is when there was tornado warnings off in that direction.

Looks like were due another round of storms sunday into monday ... Looks like a good year so far....

As Expected

2009-04-03T02:04:00.001-04:00

Well again it dies, tornado watch canceled all we see is rain.

Not even one bolt of lightning this time... ehh maybe next time....

Tornado watch 111

2009-04-02T20:23:00.001-04:00

Well we finally went under a tornado watch.. at the time of this posting the sun has pretty much set and well i think the chances for anything really severe are dropping fast, Large band of rain and embedded storms sitting off to the west of lexington about 30 miles away.. well wait a lil longer and see what it decides to do...

Severe Storms: Good chance this evening

2009-04-02T07:03:00.001-04:00

Looks like yet another severe outbreak happening over the southern states today with a surge of moisture north into this region we could see a few hailers and some damaging winds.. If it plays out as usual they will hit after sunset and be dying out as they get here leaving us with a small storm and lots of rain..

We could use the rain but i wanna see some decent storms.... Well just wait and see...

03-28 Storms

2009-03-29T13:11:00.003-04:00

Well as figured the line of supercells did merge into a squall line event.. and was in its weakening stage when it got to our area a little after 11 pm. It did have heavy rain and some gusty winds up to around 45 50 mph and some lightning. Within 2 hours of the storm passage temps dropped from mid 60's into the mid 40's... Was an ok second storm of the season... we need better...

And i will mention this is the first time in about 8-9 yrs that we have been approached by the police while out spotting. At least he was very cool about it. And... The fact that i accidentally locked us in the back of the truck when i went to shut the hatch cuz of the rain coming in OOPS.. It was the wind... really....

One other note: Got to meet Mark and Suzie as they came back up north from chasing along the gulf..They had some cool vid of intense lightning.... It was great meeting you guys and we definatly gotta do some runs together

So far so good

2009-03-28T16:06:00.002-04:00

Well here it is 4 pm and a line of storms is developing in far western Ky... Tornado watch issued for that area and one warning so far... Looks like some pre frontal storms are developing now that we got a break in the overcast here in lexington.. well see what these want to do..
For now nothing going on in the area to really go after so its a sit and wait game....

Until the next post.......

Late Season Blizzard

2009-03-27T07:42:00.002-04:00

Yup that's just what it is.. the plains are looking at a late season blizzard of epic proportions. from Colorado into Texas into Oklahoma and Kansas and a bit east are seeing record snowfall for this time of year... This ongoing with the flooding in the northern sections of the US and drought in the SE, Altho the SE is getting a fair bit of rain this week. Severe storms been rocking the gulf states for 2 days now with several reported tornadoes from East Texas to Georgia. and its not done yet....

The severe extent of the storms we could be facing is limited and depends alot on where this low goes.. Right now models have the low tracking along the Ohio river... Yeah well be in the warm sector but it will be brief... If the low tracks south then well see a chilly rain... if it moves more to the north then well definately increase the chances for severe weather across the area even better if there are some breaks in the cloud cover allready over the area.

Well just have to wait and see...

Possible Severe Weather this weekend

2009-03-27T01:51:00.002-04:00

From the looks of things we could very well see our first real severe event in the area this season.... Yes weve had a few already but those didn't turn out to be anything but winds and rain...

NWS LMK is talking about hail storms and heavy rains.. for Friday into friday night then strong to severe storms saturday into saturday night with a threat for hail high winds and isolated tornadoes. well see how this plays out. we will be ready to go for this one tho.... Bring it on LOL

Storm Season 2009

2009-03-21T16:41:00.002-04:00

Well the 09 season is about to get rolling once we get rid of the last traces of this winter air... temps have been all over with 70's one day and mid 40's the next.

Cant wait for this season to get going.. I have a feeling this will be an active season....

July 21 Borderline Severe Event

2006-07-23T04:15:00.000-04:00

Friday July 21, 2006 A HP supercell formed west of St Louis MO and was moving eastward thru-out the day causing numerous reports of wind damage from St louis into IL as it approached The Evansville area the HP transitioned into a Derecho event and triggering new storms out ahead of it into southern Indiana. . Still generating wind damage reports as it moved closer to the bluegrass region.

As the storms approached louisville the system started to lose its punch a bit It was still producing areas of winds up to 60 mph but was losing streanth as it made its way into the lexington area with several breaks in the leading edge.

I went and got into position about 45 min or so before it got into the area . The line was close enough to see the darkening to the west as it got closer.

After a short time a shelf cloud like feature made its way across the sky with winds gusting to around 30 mph. about 5-10 minutes after its passage the winds abruptly died off as if someone had turned off a fan... thinking that was odd i was looking eastward at the back side of the shelf cloud now a good distance away when i hearda low roaring noise.. I knew exactly what was comming as i turned and grabbed my radio gear and map off the roof of the car i seen the wind and rain comming across the rear field of the school as i jumped into the car the wind and heavy rain hit like a truck.

The wind was making my car bounce since it was parked sideways to the wind and it had the sound of like being in a high pressure car wash.. twigs and other debris from across the feild i guess was flying by.... as i looked at the tree in front of the golf course it had some branches and lots of leaves flying off of it and instead of falling they went off on an upward direction from where they came off never really seen where they came down but had to been at least a few hundred feet from the tree. then after about 3-5 min it was over with a light rain and some moderate wind gusts .. I estimated by the look of the trees and the effect on the car it was a good 50 mph or so...

Photos of this event are on the KYTHUNDER website under July 21, 2006 at the following link

Ky Thunder Images

Damage in fayette county consisted of numerous trees down and a few power poles broken and lines down from falling trees.

Wed July 12 Event

2006-07-13T00:09:00.000-04:00

Two rounds of storms today. the first cell moved to the north of my location by about a mile got some good shots from the south side with a section that could have been a small shear vortex.

later on in the day we tracked a bowing line of storms coming up from the south. This looked to affect the area so i got things ready here and waited until the line was about 20 miles to the south. No warnings were issued for this line only the mention of strong storms in the area.

Not having a vehicle today i was limited to spotting from my home location i went to the corner of Camelot drive and watched the darkening sky to the south grow closer. as it did i started seeing features that at the time i figured was a shelf cloud... boy that was a mistake.. turns out as it got overhead and looking southeast there was a very large wall cloud with what looked like a visible mesocyclone towering above it. looking back to the west there were some lowerings with very fast vertical motion that i was told were funnels just not very organized...

after snapping a few pics that way i turned back to the wall cloud and noticed what looked like a small dark funnel poking out of the base a few seconds later the cloud base around it lowered and blocked my view of it and the rain Heavy rain and hail started falling blocking out that whole side of the storm winds peaked at 40-50 mph with almost white out conditions for about 5 minutes then the sky cleared quickly im thinking the wind was from the RFD ... over all it was a good storm.

you can see the photos of both storms here: July 12 2006 KYThunder Photos

Severe Storms this evening

2006-05-26T02:23:00.000-04:00

Today we were under a moderate risk... Well it wasnt all that impressive it did have some nice structure some intense lightning but i was hoping for a little more out of the storms,

It was cool to have my bro mike along showing him my normal place for spotting..(hes not from around here if you had guessed allready) so it was cool to have him here for a severe event...

At one point after the gust front passed there was a suspicious area that a few of the skywarm spotters and I noticed but that had more of a horizontal overturning if you want to call it that.

But it was cool. my first severe weather net since i got my license so it was good to get out there and do what i love to do... alot of the photos i took i must have had the cam set wrong because they came out blurry... some look good some ehhhh keepers but not show'ers lol well thats all for this blog post....

Intense lightning Storm 4-19-06 4 Am Lexington

2006-04-19T13:27:00.000-04:00

Started off as a boring night at work... Knowing storms were expected later on that night i hoped i would be outta there before they arrived.. and WOOT yes i was...

On the drive to the home area i could see the lightning off to the west and north as i drove west into it the lightning intensity exploded. IC and CG everywhere... i approximated at least a 200 spm flash rate now my digital camera only has a 2 second exposure but i was able to capture ALOT of photos from this electrically active storm.. Bolts were crashing down everywhere around the car and this went on for about 2 hrs.. boy was i having fun LOL.. Ill have photos posted soon... im actually starting to get backed up on my image posting so gimme some time

Peace everyone and 73'

Passed The Test

2006-04-11T17:21:00.000-04:00

On sunday I Finally got around to getting to a test session for my ham license... and passed WOOT!!!.. and with a quickness was issued my callsign the next day .. Wow Talk about speedy service.... My Callsign is KI4OQQ and is a bit of a mouthfull to say so ill prolly be going to try and get an easier vanity CS soon.. Either way its cool and i got that over with....

and again WOOT

April 7th Severe Events

2006-04-11T16:51:00.000-04:00

On April 7th the first round of storms came into the area crossing the TN/KY line around logan county moving north east... Other Cells fired across the state but the storm in the south moved into barren county producing .75+ inch hail and numerous reports of funnel clouds. this storm eventually moved to the south of lexington. later in the evening around 9:25 Pm a lone supercell storm ahead of the main line of storms approached the county. This storm had well defined structure even seen in the dark. as the cell got into the county a severe thunderstorm warning was issued. from my location behind southern elementary school I noted what looked like a very large funnel cloud to my southwest approx 0.5 miles away shortly there after there was a breif period of .25 inch hail high winds and very heavy rains...

On further examination of the photo of the funnel there is a strong possibility it was in fact a tornado altho only slight tree damage was noted in a survey i conducted a few days later..

Image shows an extension below the funnel down to approx 100 ft with a visible debris poof directly below that.. i will be looking over radar archives to see if anything was visible on there.... I will update this when that is complete...

April 2 2006 Outbreak

2006-04-04T02:03:00.000-04:00

A severe Weather event unfolded in the midwest on april 2nd and moved off the east coast by lat april 3rd, In all

April 2

64 Tornado Reports
380 Wind Reports (6) Very high wind
354 Hail Reports (28 Large Hail)

April 3

0 Tornado Reports
52 Wind Reports
106 Hail Reports

I will post more details and images of the events here in lexington soon.
Wind damage was numerous around the area and a wind speed of 82 Mph was recorded in Lexington

Severe Weather event unfolding for the Midwest

2006-03-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

So far at this time we could be looking at a similar event as the April 3 1974 super outbreak.

Models are at a dissagreement at this time as to the placement and strength but either way a severe event is looking very possible in the next few days.

This is definatly something to keep an eye on if your in the midwest this week.

the battle of warm and cold air has returned to the middle US... lets all hope the warm air wins and boots the cold stuff outta here for the next several months..

As this event unfolds i will update the page here..

Until then.... Have fun and be safe out there

Winter wont give up just yet

2006-02-19T00:03:00.000-05:00

After hitting a high of 69 thursday a major cold front had to sweep thru the area dropping the temps down into the upper 20s for friday and the downslope continued until now...

Currently in lexington the temp is a sweaty 10 deg and it was snowing like a SOB this morning..... got about an inch ... we dont want it lol send it back to Canada gimmy my 85 deg and storms ill be happy... BTW the line of storms that came with the front didnt amount to anything but one flash of lightning and lots of heavy rain... Until next time....

Old Man Winter

2006-02-14T11:30:00.000-05:00

Well Winter has returned with a vengeance.... Luckily this area was not in its sights for the major snow all we managed was about 3 inches a few days ago while the NE of the US got 12-18+ inches...

Way too much for me lol . well im sitting here waiting for spring to get here with the warm weather and the storms.... Theres a chance of thunderstorms this thursday so lets hope for something good ...

Thats all for now tune in later hehehe

More Storm Data

2006-01-04T10:03:00.000-05:00

Hardin and Larue County Tornadoes

Base Reflectivity scan show a defined hook on the hardin co storm.
SRV and BV Scans show 2 areas of tornadic rotation

HARDIN COUNTY KENTUCKY
...STARTING POINT/TIME: ONE HALF MILE WEST-NORTHWEST OF CECILIA AT 243 PM EST
ENDING POINT/TIME: APPROX 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LONGVIEW AT 258 PM EST
FUJITA SCALE: MAINLY F1 WITH MAX F2 WHERE TORNADO CROSSED HIGHWAY 31W 3-4 MILES NORTH OF ELIZABETHTOWN
PATH LENGTH: DETAILS TO FOLLOW
PATH WIDTH: 100 YARDS AT INCEPTION TO ONE-QUARTER MILE AT MAX INTENSITY
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 0

LARUE COUNTY KENTUCKY...
STARTING POINT/TIME: APPROX 1-2 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF UPTON NEAR EXIT 76 ON INTERSTATE65; TORNADO SKIPPED UP AND DOWN ALONG ITS PATH ENDING POINT/TIME: APPROX ONE MILE WEST OF BUFFALO
FUJITA SCALE: F1PATH LENGTH: APPROX SIX MILES
PATH WIDTH: DETAILS TO FOLLOW
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 0

100mph straight-line winds in Madison County
An official National Weather Service Storm Survey Team has determined that storm damage in Madison County from January 2, 2006 was due to straight-line winds.

It’s important to remember that straight-line winds can do even more damage than a weak tornado. Another good reason to take Severe Thunderstorm Warnings just as seriously as Tornado Warnings!

A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVED THROUGH MADISON COUNTY ON MONDAY JANUARY 2. THIS LINE OF STORMS WAS ASSOCIATED WITH A VERY POWERFUL SYSTEM THAT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR SEVERAL TORNADOES AND MUCH WIND DAMAGE ACROSS CENTRAL KENTUCKY.

AROUND 500 PM EST...A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ENTERED MADISON COUNTY. THE STRONGEST PART OF THE STORMS MOVED JUST NORTH OF BEREA. A SITE SURVEY TEAM FROM THE LOUISVILLE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE COMPLETED A STORM SURVEY THIS MORNING JUST NORTH OF BEREA.THE DAMAGE WAS CONCENTRATED IN A RELATIVELY SMALL AREA NEAR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS:
HERNDON LANE...
CARPENTER LANE...
AND IN THECHAPPEL ROAD AREA.

IN THE HERNDON LANE AND CARPENTER LANE AREAS... STRUCTURAL DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED WITH ROOFS BLOWN OFF TRAILERS...WINDOWS BROKEN OUT OFHOMES...AND MANY TREES DOWN. EYEWITNESSES DESCRIBED EVENTS CONSISTENT WITH THOSE GENERATED BY MICROBURSTS OR STRAIGHT LINE WIND TYPE DAMAGE.

IN THE CHAPPEL ROAD AREA... ONE MOBILE HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT ROOF AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE. EYEWITNESSES AGAIN DESCRIBED EVENTS CONSISTENT WITH MICROBURSTS AND STRAIGHT LINE WIND TYPE DAMAGE.

THE COMBINATION OF OBSERVED DAMAGE ALONG WITH INTERVIEWS WITH EYEWITNESSES AND VIEWING ARCHIVED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DATA LEFT LITTLE DOUBT THAT THE DAMAGE WAS CREATED BY STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. THOSE WINDS HAVE BEEN ESTIMATED UP TO 100 MPH.

6 Confirmed Tornadoes

2006-01-04T07:56:00.000-05:00

The National Weather Service has confirmed that six tornadoes struck central Kentucky on January 2, 2006:

Lincoln County, F2...especially around McKinney...one minor injury (hospitalized and released)
Adair County, F2...east side of Columbia
Adair County, F1...northeast part of the county near Pellyton
Hardin County, F2...especially on the north side of Elizabethtown
Jefferson County, Kentucky, F1...far west side of town near Campground Road
Larue County, F1...from 2 miles southeast of Upton near Exit 76 on Interstate 65, skipped northeast for 6 miles to west of Buffalo

Storm Relative Velocity Scan showing strong tornadic rotation over Lincoln County in East Central Ky.

**KEY INFORMATION**
STARTING POINT/TIME: 3 MILES SOUTH OF MCKINNEY AT 434 PM

ESTENDING POINT/TIME: EAST OF US 27 NEAR HALLS GAP AT 448 PM

ESTMAXIMUM WIND SPEED: APPROX 130 MPH (F2 FUJITA SCALE)

PATH LENGTH: INTERMITTENT DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG AN APPROXIMATELY 8.5 MILE LONG PATH.PATH

WIDTH: APPROX 200 YARDS MAXIMUM DEATHS: 0 INJURIES: 1 MINOR INJURY

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVED INTO LINCOLN COUNTY MONDAY AFTERNOON. ATORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH OF MCKINNEY AT 434 PM EST.SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES AND OTHER SMALL STRUCTURES WERE DAMAGED ORDESTROYED. EYE WITNESSES DESCRIBED THE TORNADO AS IT TOUCHED DOWN.THE TORNADO THEN SKIPPED NORTHEAST 8.5 MILES TO ABOUT HALLSGAP...JUST EAST OF HIGHWAY 27 SOUTH OF STANFORD AROUND 448 PM EST.AT ONE LOCATION 2X6 BOARDS WERE FOUND FIRMLY EMBEDDED IN THE GROUND.ONE INJURY REQUIRING HOSPITALIZATION WAS REPORTED WHEN A BARN COLLAPSED ON A MAN.

More Storm Data to come

Jan 2, 2006 Severe Event Lexington

2006-01-03T10:19:00.000-05:00

For a few days the SPC was calling for a significant severe weather episode for the entire midwest and southeastern states, A Moderate risk was posted for these areas.

Overnight a few storms erupted in the lexington area ... nothing major just a few boomers.. but as the mid day of the 2nd slowly ticked on a line of severe storms developed around MO and western KY and were moving east .. as the day wore of this line became very dangerous when it reached cental Ky. Severe warnings extended from the TN line up into IN with at least 7 tornado warnings in effect at the same time in KY. As this line got near lexington an area just to the SW was showing signs of a strong Mesocyclone as seen here..

also note the strong tornadic signature on the bottom of the image. eventually this storm lost a little strength as it drew closer to my area. but what we saw was still amazing for a jan storm.

Shortly after viewing this radar scan I decided to see what i could see from here so i went 1/2 block up the road to the school parking lot where wouldnt ya know a very defined gust front was approaching and fast...

I started snapping photos actually got 30 of em before the storm was way too close for comfort since i was on foot at the time as i was headed back home i noted a wall cloud just about overhead and to my SW with some good vertical motion and rotation.. as it passed over i got a few photos of that and took shelter inside as the rain and fairly gusty winds hit. wasnt as bad as it looked on radar We were spared this time.. a county south of me got hit hard by a tornado heres some of the images i captured.

Photos From Lexington