First Ever Storm Chase! 4-7-06 Florence, KY

[therock1811]

And I didn't have to really go anywhere!

Around 2:00pm I set out on a couple of errands. Went to the mall for a bit around 2:30, came out around 3:30. Now, very foolishly, since I didn't have a car I had to walk while doing the following.

I decided I was going to head back to the east side of I-75/71 and wait for whatever would come my way. As I approached KY 18 at Action Boulevard, I ran into a little bit of rain. Hit 18 east to I-75 and at the southbound entrance ramp saw a lightning strike that looked like it was easily 6 miles away. Continuing eastward I got to the Ewing Boulevard intersection and as I did just happened to glance back over my shoulder. What I saw there, really cannot be described but as I didn't have a camera with me I have to try to do so. Anyway, I look back to my northwest and just then I see that the clouds in that area had lowered SIGNIFICANTLY! Looked like a potential wall cloud. That scared me. At this point I decided to abort my plan and head straight home instead. As I approached my street and began to cross the highway, I saw another flash and I thought for sure I'd been hit by lightning. Then the thunder cracked and I realized I'd been too close and high-tailed it. The first storm did almost nothing. The second one turned out to be a monster hail producer and I wish I'd gotten pics but it turned out to be about 1" in diameter I later found. Either way, my first chase. I REALLY need to get my license and a car, since as I said it turned out to be pretty much a foot chase.

[Aslkahuna]

Well, I've never chased a storm on foot but I did have some strong rotation develop directly overhead me while watching an approaching storm from a field-got video of it too.

Steve

[Weatherfreak14]

I storm chase with my bike. Well, since I have no license yet. Anyways, I must be a good chaser because I caught a tornado. Hard thing was getting away from it.

[therock1811]

Well, I've never chased a storm on foot but I did have some strong rotation develop directly overhead me while watching an approaching storm from a field-got video of it too.

Steve

I can't imagine how that had to be. I am still amazed at what I saw Friday afternoon.

[Skywatch_NC]

Sounds like quite an afternoon that you had, Jeremy!

1" hail up around your area, too!

Had some 1" and 1.75" size hail this morning between 10 and 10:30 am ET in a county I used to live in near the VA/NC border!

Eric

[therock1811]

Yep. As it was falling it was actually blowing sideways which had me worried it was going to bust out some windows.

[MGC]

sounds like the storm chased you....MGC

[therock1811]

sounds like the storm chased you....MGC

Well I was trying to stay in front of it in case it had rotation. I knew well enough that we were expecting tornadoes. I didn't want to be in the middle when it happened.

[LaPlaceFF]

Yeah I was wondering about you and if you got anything from the storms

[therock1811]

Yep sure did. I thought of another reason to stay ahead of it as opposed to behind. If you're doing a foot chase, you don't want to be behind a tornado because of the danger of downed power lines. And you sure as heck don't want to be too close alongside it either!

[Windy]

Nobody should "foot chase" a tornadic storm. Lightning risks aside, you've got large hail, high winds, and possibly flying debris to deal with. You kinda sorta definately need an automobile to 'chase' storms, without exception.

[Extremeweatherguy]

yeah it is just a little to risky to try and chase on foot. Plus with a fast moving supercell there would be no way to keep up. A successful foot chase is not only dangerous, but would be hard to successfully pull off (unless the storm is heading right at you). I would opt for the bike (which is still dangerous, but faster) or the car (the safest/fastest method) over foot anyday.

[therock1811]

Nobody should "foot chase" a tornadic storm. Lightning risks aside, you've got large hail, high winds, and possibly flying debris to deal with. You kinda sorta definately need an automobile to 'chase' storms, without exception.

Hence my secondary plan. If it got too ugly, I would have headed for the city building or any of the businesses along the highway, went in and took cover there. That was the only reason I took it as far as I did.

[Stephanie]

I'm just glad that you didn't get caught in that hail storm.

[WaitingForSiren]

I storm chase with my bike. Well, since I have no license yet. Anyways, I must be a good chaser because I caught a tornado. Hard thing was getting away from it.

Therein lies the problem...LOL. Imagine chasing on a bike and then having a monster f4 come after you. That wouldnt be pretty.

I might storm chase this summer when i get a car, which should be within a few months.

[Windy]

I storm chase with my bike. Well, since I have no license yet. Anyways, I must be a good chaser because I caught a tornado. Hard thing was getting away from it.

Therein lies the problem...LOL. Imagine chasing on a bike and then having a monster f4 come after you. That wouldnt be pretty.

I might storm chase this summer when i get a car, which should be within a few months.

Well, not only that, but most supercells have a lot of other dangers involved with them aside from the actual tornado. Strong winds, especially in the core, are one of them. Very strong winds in the RFD directly to the south and southwest of the tornado are also a risk. Sometimes RFD winds are strong enough to blow over trees... imagine trying to bike through that! Hail, of course is an issue, as the terminal velocity of 5 inch hail, which happens from time to time in a supercell, is well over a hundred miles per hour. Seeing as these stones regularly punch holes through roofs and windshields, if that knocks you on the knoggin, it isn't pretty! Lastly, there's lightning. Bikes offer zero protection from lightning. A number of chasers have been hit by side-flash or ground-radiating lightning over the years while standing outside of their car. A number of chasers over the years have had their cars struck while they were inside them. Those who were inside their cars were fine; those who were struck outside felt a heavy jolt. Cars = safe when it comes to lightning. A bike would not help you at all.

One of the reasons that cars are so important is that if you understand storm structure, you can usually position yourself in a safe place relative to the storm where you can observe without participating. As the storm moves torwards you, you can move with it to remain in the inflow. You can quickly escape down a side-road if the storm takes a right turn. With a bike or on foot, you will be overrun by the storm, as the storm will move faster than you can bike or walk. (A couple weeks ago, a storm I was on was moving 70mph!) This is not something you want to happen if you are on a bike or on foot.