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July 17, 2004 Storm Chase

A cold low has moved into the region for a couple days. With it, the low brought some scattered showers and thunderstorms to eastern and southern Ontario throughout the day on Saturday. Severe thunderstorm watches and warnings were issued. It wasn't the most organized set up, but I hoped for something anyways. During the afternoon, I loaded radar and satellite data, and watched TCU develop and storms coming in and out. In the late afternoon, a developing storm came, so I decided to hang around the house and take some pictures. My uncle, Dave Szozda came over for a bit, but went back to his house because he forgot his cell phone. In the meantime, this developing storm started to show some organization. I took pictures of what looked like a developing wall cloud, however it did not amount to much, and then the storm started to show signs of outflow. Uncle Dave came back, and we both decided to take a quick drive out to see what we could find with this storm.

We left at 5:10 pm, and headed to the western part of Waterloo, on Erbsville Road. We pulled into a construction site, and got out to take some pictures. Off to our north, a developing wall cloud was trying to get together. Scud was rising up into it. We took a few pictures. There was no visible rotation that we could tell. Some locals pulled in, turned around and had a look, then left. I eventually ran out of film. There were a couple of CG lightning, but nothing intense. Since my tripod was probably a good lightning detector, I put it away. Another car pulled in, and two people got out and started walking towards us. Locals, I figured, so I just ignored them. I asked if Uncle Dave wanted to head a bit more north, and then the man asked me if I was Laura. Apparently the stranger was a chaser friend whom I haven't seen in a few years... Ray Jameson, and his fiance. We chatted for a bit. I then noticed the outflow was starting to get a bit chilly, and the precipation core of the storm started to engulf the developing wall cloud. Then rain started to fall. Figuring there was not much else to photograph, we decided to head back home. We got back to my house at 5:40. This was probably the most shortest chase I've ever done, but it was worth it, I think.

Note: Chasing storms in urban areas can be difficult, and dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Traffic can be a huge problem, and buildings can obscure any storm features, so I would not recommend you chase in the city. The northwest parts of Waterloo just happen to be more open and offer good visibility in some spots, and traffic is usually not an issue.

Total hours: 30 minutes

Total distance: Approx. 5 km