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June 15, 2002 Storm Chase

In the mid-June, Southern Ontario was under a cold low system for several days. Interesting thunderstorms have developed and produced some heavy stuff, including microbursts. Unfortunately, Environment Canada had no intention of issuing any watches or warnings. It was June 15th. I was chatting on the Internet with my uncle, Dave Szozda, and a friend, Bob Berry. We were discussing whether or not to chase a storm, considering how heavy other thunderstorms have been with this low. There was a cell off to my north-northeast. It really wasn't bad looking. Nothing severe, but figured something interesting may be produced from it. Bob Berry from the Orangeville area came over in his black chase mobile, laden with antennas and gear. Bob and Dave set up their cb radios, and the three of us, Dave (as well as his puppy, Sky), Bob and I, departed Waterloo at 5:15 pm.

The sky was overcast. Nothing too exciting. We headed after the cell that was to our northeast. Bob stopped for gas in a small town, and we continued our journey. We met up with the cell close to the Orangeville area. Not bad. We pulled over off the road, and got out of our vehicles. We were now facing east. The storm seemed to have a dark base, with rain in behind. Then I saw something. Smoke? No... couldn't be smoke. Then there was more of it. It appeared light gray in color. This stuff was rising up into the updraft base fast! Then there was more of it! It appeared this stuff was coming off the trees! There were bands of this stuff rising up from the patch of trees in front of us. Tree scud! I've heard of this phenomenon before, but I have never known what it was nor knew what it looked like until now. It remained intact as it rose, unlike smoke which constantly morphs.

We then headed a little more east. We pulled over off the road once again. We saw some more "tree scud" rise off trees. All of this happened around 6:00. I then noticed a lowering of scud. It actually had slight rotation to it! The rain core that was to our east-southeast looked heavy. Scud was forming from the outflow of the rain. This cell seemed to be intensifying a bit. The scud rose into the updraft base. We continued to video and snap pictures of the scud and lowering. I looked to our north and noted some cumulus that showed signs of shear. It turns out we were in a local shear zone, which could explain the slight rotation within the lowering. I heard a little of thunder. We got in our vehicles again and continued east. Then Dave thought he saw something. He radio'd Bob, who was ahead, to wait up. We pulled over quickly but what Dave thought was something interesting was just scud. We continued east towards Orangeville on hwy 109. Then Dave saw a gravel road heading more south towards the storm, so he wanted to see where this road went. Perhaps taking this road was not a good idea - it was very narrow, and trees and ditches were on both sides of the road. Bob suggested that we turn around. I didn't like this road either, so we all carefully turned around and headed back onto the main road. As we headed east into Orangeville, we encountered some heavy rain. Once we arrived in the city, and the rain let up, we decided to grab a bite to eat for some dinner. We ordered burgers and a chicken sandwhich from McDonalds. We parked in a parking lot and ate while we chatted. Then it was time for us to head home. We got back home at 8:50 pm.

To conclude, even though there was not much in the way of thunder or lightning, it was still an interesting cell. I really enjoyed chasing with Bob Berry. At least I finally got to witness this "tree scud" :-)

Total hours: 3 hours 35 minutes

Distance: 163 km