June 13, 2000
Storm Chase
A few
days ago, I've been keeping an eye on what would be in store for southern
Ontario. On the 11th, I decided to run the 36 hr Eta for 0Z on the 13th.
I was very impressed with what the sounding was showing for the variables
and indices. CAPES were forecasted to be 2095 J/kg, while the lifted
index were forecasted to reach -6.6... this was great for convection
and lifting force. It was also going to be hot. The high for the day
would reach a muggy 30 deg C. The relative humidity was also fairly
high, with 87%. Dew points were also going to reach 20 deg C. Perfect.
We were in a heat spell for several days, so I wasn't really surprised
we would be under the gun for some active weather.
The day started
when the first severe thunderstorm watch was issued for the SW. The
watch then got extended to include my chase region at 5:50 PM. However,
this watch was in effect until 11:30 PM. I really don't fussy watches
that last into night because usually that is a sign that the storms
won't arrive until late, when it would be impossible to chase. Shortly
after I received the watch, I decided to have a peak at radar. It showed
a small supercell moving SE in Middlesex county. That area had the first
severe thunderstorm warning. I wanted to chase this one, so I gave Dave
Szozda a call. He said that it would almost be impossible to follow
that one because of the distance and the roads... it would take us a
while to drive on the back roads instead of taking the 401, but he wanted
to stay off the 401. If we took the 401, that would mean we would have
to drive through Cambridge to get to the 401. So I guess we can forget
about that cell. However, there was also another developing supercell
coming off of Lake Huron. It wasn't very developed yet, but I figured
it would reach severe limits sometime soon.
Just then a severe
thunderstorm warning was issued for the Huron-Perth region. Dave Szozda
gave me a call and asked if I wanted to head to Huron-Perth to catch
this storm. I said, "Oh yes!" and got my chase gear ready
to go. I asked my sister, Rita, if she wanted to come along. Of course
she would leave her homework and go chase a supercell. Dave arrived
at about 6:10 PM and I showed him the radar. We left at 6:30 and took
are usual highway, 86, to head northwest. It was very hazy out and the
sky was completely overcast. Oh great, I thought. More featureless skies
is what we really need. Ever since my experience on the May 12th chase,
I hated featureless, overcast skies. We headed west on highway 85, and
encountered a bit of mist and drizzle at 6:45. By this time, we started
to lose our weather radio on the scanner. We drove around a bit more
to try and get the weather radio to come in, but we failed. Now we started
to wonder where the supercell was. It got very foggy, and we assumed
that the heavy fog was to blame for the poor reception of the weather
radio. We drove around some more trying to find the storm. Where was
it? The heavy fog and overcast skies made it very impossible finding
the storm. I started to get a bit frustrated. By the time we arrived
at Wallace and Moorefield, we decided to give up on our chase. We were
in the right area where the storm would hit, but where was it? We then
had the feeling it pooped out. We decided to head back, and arrived
at my Waterloo home at 8:00. I say what a waste of gas and time. We
saw no storms, and classed myself as being a new "fog chaser".
This was the third time in my three years of chasing that I was "burned".
Dave and I had a look at radar once again and saw that the supercell
was tried to chase was totally gone. What happened, we do not know.
There was hardly a speck of precipitation seen. We then found out that
the severe thunderstorm warning had ended at about 7:10... the storm
went "poof" once it hit land. We traveled a total distance
of 90 km. On the 16th, Dave said he found out why the weather radio
never came in... it turns out it was the antenna... it wasn't screwed
all the way on properly. Doh! I guess the number 13 is a bad luck number.
Total hours: 1 hour
30 minutes
Distance: 90 km
