A Weather Enthusiast Storm Chaser's experience.

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  Posted by Web Diva August 31, 2022 - Filed in Science - #weather  #storm  #tornado  #storm chasing  #thunderstorm  - 614 views
  

  I have many little hobbies and subjects I'm enthusiastic about. One of my favorite science topics I'm drawn too is meteorology with particular interest in severe storms that spawn tornadoes, high winds and hail, as well as hurricanes and their level of damage caused by flooding and high velocity winds.  I find hurricane's complex in the way that some low category hurricanes can cause more flooding damage, specifically if the hurricane becomes stationary, while higher category hurricanes can cause various environmental damage that can be compounded by geography from where the actual eye of a hurricane hits.

  In watching the radar when severe storms are heading my way, I'm also fascinated by the development of super cells and the predictable geographical areas they seem to develop over the topography where I live.  I know that sounds unbelievable, but when you watch the weather as long as I have, you see patterns.  In my area we do have some severe weather, but most of the time, once it leaves the major cities from the west as it moves eastward, the storms usually tame a bit as they pass my area and build up again, once they reach a more east bound area of eastern Texas.  Another interesting observation, is sometimes severe weather can move south-eastward from southern Oklahoma and move it's way on in to the northern cities of Texas.  These storms seem to do the same when they reach my area, they will dial down a bit and then revamp up to turbulent once they go further south of Dallas into Waco and other cities further south.

  Hurricane's don't affect us much except in the south, however, we do get a lot of the outer rain bands, and sometimes higher wind gusts, not too likely in the north, but some tornados if the hurricanes reach the Texas coast and move northward.  Historically, most hurricanes, if they do hit the Texas coast move eastward pretty fast, and to note, the most violent side of a hurricane is the east side of a hurricane which is why Louisiana, always seems to get hardest hit from our coastal hurricanes. 

  I found the article written by Mathew Cappucci, another weather enthusiast that does take his weather to a higher level then mine, by actually experiencing it like a storm chaser, interesting because he describes the weather event while it's happening with descriptive adjectives and weather vocabulary that enhance your understanding of the complete experience.

  How It Feels To Chase a Tornado Across Three States

  Mathew's Cappuci's opening paragraph is a glimpse of the "feel" of his article.

  In the moments before entering every supercell thunderstorm, there’s a moment of pause that washes over me. It usually comes as daylight vanishes, a few seconds after I turn on my headlights; just before the first raindrops, and just after the wind has gone still. I silence the radio, tighten my seatbelt, and lower my armrest. Here we go again, I think. There’s no turning back now.

  Then it hits, in this case like a car wash. The strongest storms often have the sharpest precipitation gradients. There’s no gradual arrival of the heavy rain. You’re either in or out. And I was in it.

  How profound to be in the midst of a storm where upon there isn't any escape because you were sitting "at the sharpest, precipitation points".

  When I noted above how the storms always seem to have a pattern coming from the far west of Fort Worth and moving eastward over the Dallas area.  Mathew's experience was the same in his storm story, as I've always noticed in North Texas.  The storm he describes diminished significantly and then recharged once it got to Gainesville.

  Storms in Texas.  How predictable are they?  So many measurable weather ingredients combine together to either create a mellow to mega super storm.  I'm sure I'll keep watching and reading about the weather for a long time.  Truly fascinating.