20150911 Huntsville Storms

On 9/11/2015 storms rolled in from the north into Huntsville. I was able to capture the shelf cloud coming over Chapman Mountain! I also captured what the untrained eye may have thought was a tornado. Interestingly enough, WHNT’s meteorologist discussed clouds like this and asked if a new cloud type needed to be named. We’ll leave that decision to the professionals.

Does this cloud need a new type of name? We’ll leave that debate to the professionals, but several people confused this for a tornado, but it has zero rotation.

Shelf cloud beginning to pop up over Chapman Mountain.

Panorama of the shelf cloud coming over Chapman Mountain.

Shelf Cloud coming over Chapman Mountain and over US-72.

Inside the Whale’s Mouth. Looking south over US-72.

 

Timelapse of the storms.

20150422: Moore’s Mill Storms

Hail core heading eastward away from Moore’s Mill & Maysville area.

20150422: On 4/22 storms rapidly developed in the Huntsville area and moved eastward. Because I had to work, I missed the buildup and beginning of the storms and started chasing literally as the storms were over my house. The core was 1/4 mile south of my house. The chase begins in my driveway (Moore’s Mill/Chase Valley) and goes to the Maysville area where we parked and watched the hail core head east toward S. Pittsburgh, AL.

I put together a video showcasing the hail core breach, lightning shots, and a timelapse of the hail core heading east.

20141008 Cell Phone Lightning Shots

Capturing lightning on a cell phone camera can be difficult. It’s about timing. Maybe there’s an app out there that does continuous shot like my SLR does, but my camera phone needs me to press the damn button every time, and there’s a few seconds between when it takes the picture and when I can take the next one. I’ve had zero success in capturing lightning on my cell phone camera every time I’ve tried.

But on October 8th we had a great storm roll in over Meridianville and just north of Moore’s Mill (Chase Valley), Alabama. The view in my back yard was amazing and the lightning was incredible! Bolts and fingers everywhere! I tapped the hell out of that button and BAM! Not only did I get one, but I got several. I’m including all the ones I got, even the mediocre ones, because I’m just too damn excited that I caught lightning on my cell phone camera! As always, you can click on the picture to see the larger image.

I got super excited when I captured this tiny little bit of lightning. If only I had known what was coming!

Oh, I captured another one! I’m so excited at this point I can barely hold the camera still! But the best was yet to come…

Hell yeah! A full bolt. Too bad it’s distorted and hard to see really well. But hey, I got one with my cell phone! But wait… there’s more!

OH HELL YEAH! I was so excited after this shot that I almost dropped my cell phone. But the surprises weren’t done.

Finger lightning coming from the East. My excitement was less dramatic by this point, but it was still awesome to see this on my cell phone screen.

This is the last lightning I captured. It’s not a full bolt, but I think the small bolts inside the cloud are gorgeous. So it’s a keeper!

20140903: Flooding & Storms, Moore’s Mill, AL

A cell formed over the Moore’s Mill area of Alabama and just sat there for awhile, dumping heavy rain on the area the entire time. Localized flooding occurred, but nothing major: just the drainage having a hard time keeping up with the amount of rain coming down.

The flooding started simple enough.

Then the drainage started to struggle to keep up.

And it just got worse from there.

This was the maximum amount in my yard when the rain finally let up. At the center of that “pond” it is about 3 1/2 feet deep.

But the sun finally came out and gave us a gorgeous post-storm sunset!

View looking due west.

Westerly view.

Southwestern view.

South view with the moon peeking through.

20140817 Storms in Meridianville, Moore’s Mill and Gurley

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: