March 08, 2009: tornado warnings went out....but just as i thought.....nothing happen

bust. Tornado was spotted in Defiance, which is west of here and cause some damage, but the storm died out by the time it reach here. One house had minor damage.


May 14, 2009: Well finally we get some storms. Went to bed with a forecast of a chance of storms some heavy. Temperature and dew point was increasing, pressure was falling indications was pretty good. Problem was it will be a night chase(and i usually don't do those) and the storms wont reach me till early in the am. So i decided since i work the next day i just go to bed.
Around midnight, SPC put out severe thunderstorm watch #301 out for our area stating the following:

BROKEN LINE OF INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES TO TRACK
   EASTWARD ACROSS IND AND LOWER MI TONIGHT...AND INTO WESTERN OH
   BEFORE DAYBREAK.  INSTABILITY WILL CONTINUE TO DIMINISH WITH TIME
   AND EASTWARD EXTENT.  HOWEVER...VERY STRONG WIND FIELDS WILL
   MAINTAIN A RISK OF LOCALLY DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL THROUGH THE
   NIGHT.
I would of slept thru it unless it was for the storms. I had no photo or video charge up and ready to go but here's the report.

Around the 4oclock hour i got a text message that woke me up stating this:

AT 400 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM PERRYSBURG TO 12 MILES NORTHWEST OF LIMA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 60 MPH.

THE STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS THE REGION EARLY THIS
MORNING AND HAVE A HISTORY OF PRODUCING FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND
STRONG WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH.

when the storms came thru, they did have an impressive lighting display. Brief heavy rain and winds that gust up to 40mph, not meeting severe criteria but at least there was a storm.

Friday is supposed to be another possible chase day, with that day off is real good chance i might get something. wish me luck


June 8, 2009:

Today there were no watches out in the immediate area.  We sat under a slight risk for severe the entire day. The temperatures were not as warm as i wanted them to be but the dew points were pretty high, making it still muggy outside most of the day. Around 2030 (8:30pm) a single cell was noticed on radar. I use one of the local news stations to track it. The storm was producing at least penny to marble size hail and gusty winds. I was a good 20mins from intercepting the storm. I finally decided to say what the hell, since i have most of my gear on me, lets get a good shakedown.

As i took to the road the storm was classified as severe by the national weather service, making to press even faster to the storm. Tho only problem is that i waited 20mins too long and i could not get in front of the storm. I did trail it for a good time until I ran out of road and went into Lake Erie. Penny size hail was reported with this storm. could not find any. More storms was supposed to be coming in at night but they lost their intensity as the sun went down and all we got was showers

I did take a few pics via cell phone, camera was not working well and that will have to addressed as well as my lighting ..or. I will post the best pics from the phone. So even though i didn't encounter much at all, it was still a rush to finally get out there and chase. Hope for some more in the future. Talk to ya soon.
KD8GLQ


Thursday, June 18, 2009 

hazardous weather update for my area THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR LAKE ERIE...NORTH CENTRAL OHIO...NORTHEAST OHIO...NORTHWEST OHIO AND NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA.


DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT FOR THE SOUTHWEST PART OF THE AREA INCLUDING THE TOLEDO...FINDLAY AND MARION AREAS.


DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN

FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.
THE SOUTHWEST TWO-THIRDS OF THE AREA WILL HAVE A MODERATE RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FOR FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT WHILE THE REST OF THE AREA HAS A SLIGHT RISK.

SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED FRIDAY INTO FRIDAY NIGHT.


hazard weather update as of 4pm THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. AN ACTIVE DAY IS EXPECTED. HEAVY DOWNPOURS ARE ALSO LIKELY.
SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS EXPECTED FRIDAY AND/OR FRIDAY NIGHT.

cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


June 19, 2009:

Round 1

Severe thunderstorm watch #476 was issued at 415am, waking me out of a sound sleep. I took a quick look at the radar and determined that they will be a while before they get here...WRONG!!!!!!!!! The storms were moving at 50mph. The warnings started to come in for the counties west of me. I decided that i would try to go out and meet it and get some lighting pics in since chasing was out of the question since it was still dark. I observed many lightning shots on my way to intercept, one awesome CG that i hope i got on video. The storms seemed to die out in its severity as they approached me, so not much video was taken and no pics. well this is round one. the watch expires at noon and radar showed another round hitting probably in a few hours. So no rest for the wicked. My chase partner will arrive soon and i shall break her into the wonderful world of storms and chasing. Talk to ya soon


round 2

This is disappointing. Cloud cover all day has hampered much storm development. Round 2 was just a regular storm. They are still promising something big tonight. But since they were off on the temps by 20 degrees, I'm not holding my breath. I shall keep u informed.


round 3

Round 3 happen at night and it was the most intense thunderstorm that ive seen in a long while. My chase partner, Teresa and I loaded up the car (without the camcorder, darn it) and headed out.
No severe weather was recorded but an very impressive light show we did see. As i said earlier, camcorder was missing so no video was taken. also my other media equipment failed so no photos were taken. All in all it was a wonderful time we both had.



June 25, 2009: Today was another HHH day (Hazy, Hot, Humid). A slight risk  for severe today and didn't have to wait long. By 2pm sever thunder storm watch #510 was issued with a great chance of large hail and destructive winds. Warnings started to go up around 5. These were very slow moving storms, dumping lots of rain in a small area. I also encountered nickle size hail in these storms.
Video of rain almost going horizontal will be posted soon as well as pics from the storm chase. 2 other people also sent me pics of there chases...please take a look at them.

Several reports of 1inch hail and winds up to 70mph was reported.  More information on this chase will be posted later when i get all my data reviewed.


July 23, 2009: this was a non severe storm chase. Myself and my chase partner, Teresa went out after the storms. We view several lighting strikes, some CG but mostly CC. No damage was reported.


July 29, 2009: Another non severe storm chase. This storm did produce damage, including several down limbs in central Toledo. I did post one pic of a tree completely blocking Cherry street (4lanes!!!). I'm hoping soon that there will be some good storms here.


August, 17, 2009: This storm chase bought me a very impressive wall cloud and very close lighting strikes. Winds gusted up to 50mph along with horizontal rain. I had at least 2 lighting strikes less than 300 feet from me. Glad that i was in the car. Photos are posted.

This has been a very slow chase season for my area. hopefully things pick up soon.