June 15th 2002

"Unstable Low"

cloud1.jpg (19198 bytes)

The morning started off will all kinds of interesting storms and a squall line along lake Ontario which was clearly visible from the lakeshore. In the image here you can see some cumulus starting to billow and rise.
updraft.jpg (8038 bytes) Eventually the storm clusters decided that they would not wait on me to chase but rather come to the home front. In this pic you can see a real well developed main updraft leading into a CB.
lowering1.jpg (14921 bytes) Well the only thing interesting I could dig out of this storm was this one and only distinct lowering along a rather flat base. As far as I could tell it was not rotating and I figure it is only scud.
updraft2.jpg (11119 bytes) After some light rain and small hail that was pea sized the storms moved to my north east.
boiling.jpg (11823 bytes) Well as the day unfolded more storms moved this way and as luck had it I was heading downtown to bring back some radio equipment to radioshack. I no sooner left my street than this billowing wall of cloud was above my head. The cloud was actually a result of cold outflow from the core forcing warm air over.
boiling3.jpg (13584 bytes) An odd picture as is this it was taken while waiting at some lights. I was looking directly up into the interesting cloud deck.
boiling2.jpg (17464 bytes) Shortly after leaving I was on my way down hwy 7 and this was when the cloud feature was most present. You can clearly see a distinct precursor shape although interestingly enough there was no wind.
rain_banding.jpg (15702 bytes) So while heading to the on ramp to the 427 I took this image of rain banding along some fields.
TCU_line.jpg (16573 bytes) This picture was taken about 15 min after the one above and shows some real good cumulus turning into TCU along hwy 403. I was actually on the 427 near the QEW at the time with the camera looking west.
tcu1.jpg (10912 bytes) I was in the Sherway Gardens parking lot when this huge tower going up caught my eye. I could clearly see under its base and there was not the slightest precip present but I knew something was up. Assumptionly this storm was at 25,000 ft in the picture.
cb1.jpg (13262 bytes) So I went into the mall brought the stuff back to Radioshack and when I came out 10 minutes later... WOW. The tower was now a full blown CB almost at storm stage. I looked under the base and there was no precip at all but as I watched I saw 1 band start to fall and then within about 1 min the entire base was black. Within the next 10 min it was producing constant cg's and even more constant cc's. I noticed that while I listened to the wx radio every time a cg struck I would hear a pop on the radio. For some reason only cg's would trigger it. The only cc that trigger one such pop was directly above my head but that was it. The storm was at this point assumptionaly over 35,000 ft.
cb2.jpg (12221 bytes) And it still got bigger!
rain.jpg (12088 bytes) So heading north through the storm was no simple task. With rain falling at 200mm/hr and with a hwy such as the 427 known for hydroplaning with rain falling far slower this was no joke.

OK OK OK..... I made that sound far worse than it was but my SDS is killing me here.

funnel1.jpg (7671 bytes) Then just when I thought all I would see was gonna be rain there it was. I saw this thing which got my attention immediately. At first I thought that I was seeing scud and was actually joking about what a good look alike funnel it would have been until I zoomed in with the camera and saw it was rotating extremely quickly. The rotation was tight and extremely well defined. I think I almost choked on my gum at that point and immediately snapped a pic.
funnel2.jpg (7477 bytes) Here is another shot of the cold air funnel cloud.
427.jpg (12170 bytes) Well after that I thought I had had my chase but stuff was still going up all around just like that cell directly over the highway seen in the distance.
storm2.jpg (14977 bytes) Well the next storm was even better than I thought. It was extremely well developed and it had not only 1 but 2 outflow boundaries although I am not sure if the first outflow boundary (thin line cumulus only about 200ft thick) was a result of another outflow boundary from the storm to my east.
cell1.jpg (9461 bytes) Then just as I thought nothing else could possible fit in the sky a hole opened up in the high cirrus deck and poof a third storm to my north.
cb3.jpg (14061 bytes) This image was taken at about 5:30 and you can see some rain falling from the back side of the storm as a result of updraft collapse. Also some interesting striations are present on the underside of the cloud.
home.jpg (18764 bytes) Well unfortunately all good things must come to an end. If it was not for Jon Raynor's good now cast information I probably would have been nowhere. I was actually expecting to head out later with Jon on a second chase but the activity died down to just showers although he did come over and we had an excellent chat.

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