Thursday, October 18, 2007

Wall Cloud





Big time THANK YOU to Dewdrop for her excellent radar support this afternoon. I left Decatur and was headed south on I-65. I heard that we had just been placed under a tornado watch and there was a warning in Winston County. I called Dew who told me there was a storm showing strong rotation near Haleyville. I immediately exited West on Hwy 36, passing through Hartselle, heading west to intersect the storm. By the time I was just west of Hartselle, Dew updated me that the storm was dying but that there was another supercell near Hamilton. She suggested I hold tight and not give up. I headed west toward Danville and could see some cumulonimbus to my west southwest. I called Dew and she said there was a real strong cell headed toward Moulton. I turned northwest on Hwy 157 and the storm was moving rapidly northeastward. I saw the above wall cloud between 3:40 and 3:45 near Moulton. The photo just doesn't do it justice. The low cloud base and trees made it very difficult too find a place to pull over and get a good shot. Besides that, the storm was moving so rapidly that it would move out of view quickly. As I was travelling up 157 I saw a very distinct rotating wall cloud, with inflow. A few scud clouds seemed to be rotating into or around the wall cloud. For the most part, I was in a rain free area, southeast of the storm. There was heavy rain to the northeast of the wall cloud and a rain free base to the southwest.

It died as fast as it was born.....

4 comments:

Wayfarer said...

Now that is sweeet Mike!!!!! Way to go Bro!!!

Storm Chasing Mikey said...

Awesome Mike! Man I am so jealous. I sure hope I at least get a little action tomorrow.

SCM

Dewdrop said...

All in all, a great chase! Glad to help!

Mike Wilhelm said...

Thanks y'all...it was great fun....