Monday, May 28, 2007 - 3:14AM

WV thunderstorm forecast for Memorial Day

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

From Dan: How the crime of copyright infringement took $1 million from me and shut down my operation.

In September of 2025, my work is generating the most income it ever has in my career. Yet, I'm being forced to shut down my successul operation, against my will, due to one cause alone: 95% of that revenue is being stolen by piracy and copyright infringement. I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. Do not be misled by the lies of infringers, anti-copyright activists and organized piracy cartels. This page is a detailed, evidenced account of my battle I had to undertake to just barely stay in business, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem faced by all of my colleagues and most other creators in the field.

The bulk of West Virginia has been relatively rain and storm-starved for nearly two weeks now, aside from the brief popup showers and storms occuring mainly over the mountains. Memorial Day should bring a higher chance of organized thunderstorms to the region by late afternoon, but not by much.

Moisture at the surface is plentiful today, with dewpoints in the mid-60s creating a mugginess that can be felt in the air. However, a quick check of the models reveals the support of strong upper-level winds remaning well to the north of us today. This means that convection that manages to fire on the slow-moving and weakening cold front will have difficulty becoming strong and widespread. The RUC model (a short-term model) is the most optimistic for firing storms, with the concentration centered in the Parkersburg-Clarksburg-Wheeling-Morgantown areas in northwestern West Virginia. The GFS and WRF are not as agressive in indicating storms, aside from some weak showers and/or short-lived storms firing north of Parkersburg. I think that despite the presence of the front, most of the state - particularly south of Parkersburg and west of the mountains - will have a hard time seeing even a drop of rain from this setup. The SPC does have most of the state outlooked in a small hail risk area for today, with a greater risk in central and eastern Virginia.

As far as today being an storm chase day, I think the probabilities are too low to venture out onto the road and burn gas money. I will likely stick close to home and wait for the off-chance of development within a 30 mile radius of Charleston. If a strong line of thunderstorms begins pushing south toward the Ripley area as the RUC model suggests, then I may head up I-77 to see what type of photo opportunities it offers.