June 26, 2003
Storm Chase
June
26th was supposed to be another active day in store in for SW Ontario.
The first severe thunderstorm watch had been issued for southern Ontario
at 9:14 am. A sharp cold front was supposed to sweep through the region,
cooling off the air after a heat wave. Humidex values were in the 40s.
It was also very humid, so severe storms were expected to fire up just
ahead of the cold front. The storms were expected to reach Windsor at
around 4 pm and arrive in Toronto at 8 pm. Finally at 1:44 pm, the first
severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Middlesex, Oxford and Perth
counties. I decided to continue to watch radar and see if the storms
were holding. Satellite showed a bunch of TCU fire up, as a result of
the lake breeze convergence setting up in the area. Surface based CAPE
ranged from 2500 to 4500, with a Lifted Index ranging from -6 to -8
respectively. Dew points were also the 20s, which indicated there was
plenty of moisture. Things were setting up, and I wanted to be there
before any of the action started.
Uncle Dave and I
left my place at 2:20 and took hwy 86 north and headed west. Traffic
on 86 was slowed down due to road construction. Our target was Huron
and Perth counties. We saw a bunch of TCU fire up, but they seemed to
only get so high up. Around 3 pm, we noticed a nice cumulus congestus
cloud to just our northeast. We were not too far out of Listowel. We
figured this would be one of the storms that would go severe. We sat
there watching it, taking pictures and a little bit of video, but it
didn't seem to be glaciating at all. As it moved eastward, it didn't
look very good anymore. Then the cell phone rang. Unfortunately we could
not answer it because it said Restricted Number. Oh well. We saw other
TCU that started to build, but unfortunately that's all they would become...
the towers had downdraft pockets in them. This was not a good sign.
It appears there was a cap in place. We decided to head east a little
bit, and we waited some more. Unfortunately we could not see anything
good around us, even in the distance. It was also hazy out, which made
our visibility a little more difficult. At around 5 pm, figuring we
had busted, we decided to call it quits and headed back to see what
radar was showing.
As soon as I got
home ten minutes later, I loaded radar. Uncle Dave had already left.
Then I was floored to see that radar showed showed severe storms in
the area where we just were! With warnings issued! I quickly called
Uncle Dave to inform him on the sudden development of the storms. He
was already at home, and said we wouldn't be able to get to them in
time, because he would have to pick me up again and there was the construction
on hwy 86. Oh dang it! We called it off too early! What a lesson to
be learned :-(
Total hours: 3 hours
30 mintues
Distance: 155 km
