A successful storm chase yesterday! I am still going through pictures and video, but aside from tornadoes, we were able to catch everything else we were looking for. The position of the threat send Nic Roberson and I up to Petersburg, Va, to wait out the storms. While we were waiting, we made the most of our time by going to a a couple of old Civil War battle sites and memorials.
While on the civil war guided driving tour, storms started firing and we launched northwest! Most of our anticipation was for tornadoes, but the environment quickly changed and lost the threat. With new goals in mind, we set out to find lightning, hail and shelf clouds. The storm complex was a nasty wind producer, causing widespread damage with its hurricane force winds.
Fortunately, we were able to hit the system at an angle and stayed in the storms most intense wind for over 3 hours. During this time we saw a lot of lightning, felt small hail a few times, and saw a ton of shelf clouds.
One of the best features of the day strong internet connection around the area, which allowed me to live stream the event to hundreds of people the entire time. I later learned we were the only car live streaming these storms and so I am glad we decided to chase.
As the sun started setting, the storms stared losing power and it was about time to drive home. Even after already driving about 400 miles, I decided to try to get one more picture and I am glad I did.
Exploring NC 