20140818: Shelf Chasing in Moore’s Mill, AL

Aug18

Storms came into the Northern Alabama area and of course I was working. I missed the best ones, but I did go chase during my lunch. I got a few lightning shots and chased a shelf. The shelf was gorgeous, but it was a weak shelf with little lightning, no wind, and only moderate rain. I threw together a quick video of the shelf chase:

I also threw together a GIF of one of the lightning strikes I caught near my house before I chased the shelf:

20140817 Storms in Meridianville, Moore’s Mill and Gurley

Aug18

On Sunday, 8/17, storms rolled through the Tennessee Valley, heading generally east. I started following the storms just northwest of Meridianville and followed them to just east of Gurley. These storms were not tornadic and showed no signs of rotation. They were moderate lightning generators and produced light to moderate winds with moderate rain. Don’t forget to check out our Alabama Storm Chasers & Spotters group on Facebook!

Video of the first cell I encountered northwest of Meridianville. I was at the 9600 block of Patterson Rd.

A couple of animated GIFs from that same cell:

Photos of the first cell:

Some of the lightning shots from the day (click on the image to see the full size photo):

US-231 Southbound, intersection of Meridian Rd.

Southbound on Naugher Rd at Intersection of Winchester Rd. Strike is on Alpha Lane.

Southbound on Naugher Rd at Intersection of Winchester Rd. Strike is on Alpha Lane.

Across from the Sunoco on Naugher Rd. looking east along Winchester Rd.

Sitting at intersection of US-72 & Dug Hill Rd looking east along US-72. Strike near Gurley.

Sitting at intersection of US-72 & Dug Hill Rd looking east along US-72. Striking the radio tower northwest of Gurley.

Sitting at intersection of US-72 & Dug Hill Rd looking east along US-72. Mountain strike northwest of Gurley.

Sitting along US-72 at Brock Rd looking east. Strike northwest of Gurley.

For some reason my dashcam is doing this weird thing with lightning:

BWAHAHA: 8/2 – 8/8

Aug11

BWAHAHA (Blair’s Week Attempts at Haha’s) 8/2 – 8/8: Well this week was horrible for my normal job, but at least I finally resolved the problems by the end of the week and was able to enjoy my weekend: date night with my girlfriend, got to see a play (Bare), games with friends, mowing the lawn (I consider that a relaxing event since I ride a John Deere mower), and playing some Skyrim. We saw Into the Storm, the new tornado disaster movie (yes, I wore my Alabama Storm Chasers t-shirt). I wrote a review of the movie after seeing what I thought was some unfair criticism of the film. There’s plenty of legitimate criticisms of the film, there’s no reason to get unfair on it.

Okay, seriously, if you do not know the answer to something, then do not guess or make shit up. I read 76 comments of people guessing at what a spider was (pic posted by someone on a Facebook group) and only one guessed sort of right. Unfortunately, I’m not in the group, so I could not give this person the right answer. The spider was nephila clavipes and they are gorgeous (seriously, do a Google search for nephila clavipes). Oh, and what you call a banana spider IS NOT A FUCKING BANANA SPIDER! UGH! (BTW, this is an actual “banana spider:” Phoneutria fera)

OTHER STUFF

I hate when people guess when they don’t know. Just say, “I don’t know.” It’s OK. “I don’t know” is often a precursor to “Let’s find out!”

I made the mistake of wearing black to pick up the dog from the groomers. Now I have more hair than the dog.

The Happy Mondays were playing in the theater bathroom. The Happy Mondays! On the radio! In Huntsville, AL! Weird, yet awesome. And then to top it off, The Farm were playing inside the restaurant! Did Alabama suddenly discover music other than Top 40 crap and Country?

Going to see Into the Storm on Friday. Sure, I’ll cringe at some of the bad science, but I’m expecting to love the movie because, you know, it has tornadoes and shit in it.

My review of Into the Storm.