20150331: North Alabama Storms

I forgot to post this after the 3/31 storm chase. Nothing scary or super exciting. We chased for the lightning and hail mostly. No real tornado threat on the cell we chased.

20150331: Storms entered the North Alabama area heading ESE. We began chasing this cell in Athens, AL with the cell almost due west of us. We went all the way to Russellville where we finally entered the cell and were able to breach the core, down to Trinity where we breached the core a second time, over to Decatur and then finally back to Huntsville.

Our first core breach was over the Tennessee River on the SR-101 bridge in Joe Wheeler State Park:

We were able to get back in front of the storm and had a second core breach near Trinity, AL on the US-72 looking toward Nucor Steel.

I created a compilation of some of the lightning we saw that night from the start in Athens to the finish.

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!

20140830 – 0927 – Random Weather Photos

So, it’s been since late August since my area has had any decent storms. But we have had a few random storms that were mostly rain makers. So I figured I’d post a few of the pics I’ve taken since the last big storm we had here. As always, click on an image to see the full-size photo.

Watching the storms come in on 8/30.

Watching clouds form underneath the storm on 8/30.

This little dot cloud, just hanging out under the storms of 8/30.

Getting closer… (8/30)

Ready for some lightning action… that never materialized on 8/30.

Awesome cloud structure on 9/5.

Watching the cell come in just east of my position, it looked promising, but just turned into a rain-maker with very little lightning. (9/5).

Oh, a drop… but alas, it petered out. Did keep a closer eye on it, though. (9/5)

Southern end of the cell. (9/5)

Waiting…. c’mon storm, you can do it! (9/5)

Turned into a rain maker that just sat there. (9/5)

Stark contrast just south of position. (9/5)

Flooding near the house from the cell that just sat there. (9/5)

One cell brewing way south of Fall Creek Falls, TN. (9/19)

When the storms fizz, then just take in the sights instead! (9/19)