Storm Highway by Dan Robinson
Weather, photography and the open roadClick for an important message
Home | Blog Index | Blog Archives | Christianity & Faith Essays

                   Monday, June 16, 2008 - 11:55PM

June 16 severe storms/hail

By DAN ROBINSON
Editor/Photographer
30 Years of Storm Photography
Important Message
Dan's RSS/XML feed
Dan's YouTube Video Channel

I finally deviated from my 'stay in the Charleston area' chase strategy that has been working so well lately, and probably should have stuck to it tonight. I was drawn away from town by a persistent supercell in the southern coalfields that displayed a long-lived velocity couplet and hook on radar (and eventually was tornado-warned for much of its later life in southern WV). When I finally caught it on I-77 near Ingleside, it was done producing even lightning, much less anything else. It was very high-based when I finally got a look at the southern end of it, and no tornado reports showed up in the LSRs. I slowly made my way back north, sampling the cores of various cells that popped up around Beckley, Oak Hill, Fayetteville, Gauley Bridge and Belva. The largest hail I encountered was a 45-second long burst of quarter-sized stones on Route 16 near Fayetteville.

HD EXPEDITION VIDEO: Hail on Route 16 near Fayetteville

As I made my way back toward home at sunset, radar indicated that I was probably missing quite a show back in Charleston as several isolated thunderstorms developed and passed just north of town at dusk. With the fading daylight, frequent lightning and strong updrafts surrounded by clear skies, I can only imagine what the scene from Fort Hill to the north must have looked like. I caught a glimpse of it near Montgomery as the low cloud deck cleared, revealing a white cumulonimbus tower nearly overhead against the deep blue twilight sky, with lightning bolts flickering outside of the cloud. It was spectacular, and of course I stopped to try for a few shots. But the low level cloud deck had other ideas, quickly reenveoping the scene and hiding it from my view. Had I stayed home, I probably would have filled a memory card with that display.

I guess 2008 continues to be the year of the stay-at-home storms. I've been doing best so far by resisting the urge to go for something far away (and saving quite a bit of gas money), but it's hard to stick to that plan when hook echos start showing up within striking distance.

30 Years of Storm Photography
Important Message
Dan's YouTube Video Channel
Dan's Twitter feed
Dan's RSS/XML feed

This web site is made possible by support from CIS Internet.
CIS Results-Oriented Internet Marketing

GO: Home | Storm Expeditions | Photography | Extreme Weather Library | Stock Footage | Blog

Featured Weather Library Article:

Lightning & towers, skyscrapers
See how lightning really does strike the same place twice!
More Library Articles

All content © Dan Robinson. All usage requires a paid license - please contact Dan for inquiries.

Web Site Design and Internet Marketing by CIS Internet