Welcome to Jon Merage's Storm Chasing Blog

Bolt from the Blue

2011-08-14T14:45:00.006-06:00

On the night of the 3rd, I had the rare luck of capturing a less frequently photographed form of lightning called a bolt from the blue.

Such super-bolts, while spectacular to witness and document, are absolutely lethal and destructive as they possess about 10X the charge of the more common negative bolt. Also referred to as dry lightning, they have caused many fatalities and millions of dollars in damage.

The visible lightning discharge (return stroke) originates within the storm's upper glaciated anvil which holds solid hydrometeors (ice crystals & hail/graupel) that carry positive charge.

The initial stepped leader sets off as an intracloud bolt within the positively charged upper anvil/tower region before traveling outward up to several miles then down towards an unsuspecting target on the negatively charged ground. Positive bolts are the most highly charged and long-lasting form of lightning. While the average common negative bolt carries enough energy to light a 10-watt bulb for 2 months, a positive bolt can release enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for almost a century!!
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_voltage#Lightning")

Positive lightning strikes of this kind are superceded in rarity only by ball lightning, which I personally have yet to witness.

Captured with Canon 40D in northeast Colorado. Exposure time: 23 sec., ISO 100, Canon EF-S 10-22mm zoom.

July 13, 2011 Denver Lightning Superstorms

2011-07-18T16:27:00.010-06:00

During the week of July 11th, the eastern Colorado and Front Range urban corridor were hit by some of the most powerful storms in memory. The strong late-summertime high situated over the southern and central plains enhanced the monsoonal moisture pattern, pushing deep moisture normally seen only across the lower central Plains during the height of storm season all the way up to the mountains. The deeper moisture naturally combined with strong daytime heating, with several days pushing highs towards the century mark, and an unusually mild upper air pattern with the jet stream situated well north toward the Canada border to create ideal conditions for slow moving, flooding storms with tremendous lightning.

While the storms were mostly non-tornadic (only one supercell with tornado reports which happened over some barren fields well southeast of Denver), the ferocious lighting shows more than made up for it!!

Above is an awesome strike I captured from the comfort of my back yard on the night of the 13th!
In my opinion, that night represented the height of the prolific storms pattern with dazzling displays of non-stop strikes of every kind that moved almost over downtown Denver as with the previous night.

The storms then drifted northward over the southeastern part of town where they lost no strength! As I followed carefully through Aurora and up to I-70 east, I witnessed just how powerful electrified it was!

To view these and other great photos, please visit:
Thunderstrike Photography

Lucky Shots of Overshooting Towers!

2011-05-13T23:02:00.008-06:00

So last week I felt SORELY disappointed that I wouldn't be able to chase what the forecast models had predicted would be the second real tornado outbreak of the year. Both the long range (GFS) AND medium-short range (NAM) showed the classic signs of a negatively tilted trough & associated jet streak complete with subtropical jet to pull out onto the southern Plains right over deep moisture classic to a healthy May starting Wednesday and moving slowly eastwards into the end of the week.

Unfortunately a business trip to Chicago-- starting ON Wednesday and going for a day & a half -- was mandatory. I had a sneaking suspicion that Chicago & areas along our flight one way or the other would likely see at least some storms, and thankfully was not disappointed!
While there were no tornadoes or crazy lightning storms to be had (and this system failed to produce any outbreaks at all, thankfully), I did have the great pleasure of photographing a few healthy supercells on the way back home-- from 40,000 feet up!! Somewhere over southeastern Nebraska between Lincoln & Hebron spiraling around the core of a large cold-core low a series of cells erupted...

Courtesy of my DROID X!

These failed to produce any tornadoes (at the time at least), but had plenty of awesome classic supercellular structures! Four twisters were reported earlier, but they were all further north along & just north of I-80 between 3-4pm.

Gearing Up for Storm Season 2011

2011-05-07T17:19:00.004-06:00

Greetings! It's been some time since my last update, and as we have seen this season has already taken off with a truly historic and unprecedented April of consecutive outbreaks with not just record numbers of tornadoes, but of VIOLENT killer tornadoes, as anyone tuned into the news has seen. The latest estimates and figures from NOAA & the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) are stunning: (source link here)

305 separate tornado touchdowns in two waves of outbreaks over a 3-day period.

Two E-F5s, 12 E-F4s, and TWENTY-ONE E-F3 tornadoes!!

Damage paths across long swaths of land from east Texas to Virginia, covering most of the southeast U.S. region known as "Dixie Alley", an area outside the proverbial & traditional "Tornado Alley" which has seen more deaths per capita than anywhere in the nation.

One particularly violent storm spawned from this monstrous "super-outbreak", infamously known as the Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado, was tracked and covered live by numerous media outlets including The Weather Channel, had a maximum width of 1.5 miles and an astounding 80 MILE path of destruction, very sadly inflicting a confirmed 65 fatalities, a new record from a single tornado since March 1925.

The endless streams of images, videos & dramatic survivor accounts have once again left the nation with a sad, sobering image of what a "Super-Outbreak" looks like, and the ongoing NEED to continue to develop advanced warning systems with which to not just continually warn, but EDUCATE the public. On the positive side, the Storm Prediction Center had issued categorical risks days before the outbreak, clearly highlighting the general areas most at risk, and then worked diligently with the local NWS offices in issuing warnings on some 90% of storms that produced tornadoes with an average lead time of twenty-five minutes.

A few incredible videos that put things in perspective for me on that night:
Tuscaloosa tornado

IT'S OFFICIAL

2010-05-24T18:50:00.003-06:00

As expected, NWS Aberdeen has officially rated the Bowdle tornado an EF4 with wind speeds between 170-200 mph!! That makes our second certifiable EF4 (Quinter, KS of May '08 the first) and my personal third! The first EF4 I experienced (not so much "witnessed" due to after-dark) being the famous Hoisington, Kansas tornado of April 21, 2001.

NWS described damages some which we personally witnessed (from up-close) such as "major damage to walls with roof removed" to one residence just north of town and "widespread tree damage with many of the trees completely debarked" which is impressive considering trees have a generally slim profile, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, "2 garages completely destroyed with the concrete slab wiped clean" and "ground scouring visible along the path of the electrical towers" which we witnessed and recorded. Those descriptions are hallmarks of strong-violent tornadoes. Lastly the path length, duration, and width of the vortex (estimated at one-half mile wide) defined the strength of it all!

While we didn't have a chance to revisit the damaged areas we knew such things had occurred having witnessed the furious and violent storm motions at all levels. All features of the supercell from the moment of mesocyclogenesis through its apocalyptic maturity with a massive striated buzzsaw appearance and screaming inflow jets feeding the storm throughout the mid-levels of the atmosphere screamed violent. It was as if this storm just situated itself over one spot and had nothing to do but spin out of control. I will post many more pictures soon.

Violent Wedge Tornadoes near Bowdle, SD

2010-05-23T17:28:00.012-06:00

Days like this are what storm chasers/researchers live for...

Yesterday afternoon the 22nd a supercell of EPIC proportions produced seven destructive tornadoes along a 7 mile path across north-central South Dakota. Among them, one become a large barrel shaped wedge tornado which crossed to the north of the small town of Bowdle. I tracked this powerhouse storm with my partner Sean Mullins (whose picture of the storm made the front page of the local newspaper) from it's start as a cluster of billowing cumulus in a clear blue sky straight through until its massive blowout as a long line of lightning & hail-filled storms.

The main tornado near Bowdle crossed the highway on which we had followed the storm just behind us as we raced to stay ahead of the tornado. Once it passed north, we stopped to collect data, video & photos while the violent tornado became stationary & grinded into the earth lofting massive amounts of dirt and debris and actually holding the mess in suspension as it quickly matured into a full-blown wedge! As I shot video of the storm powerful inflow winds at our location accelerated to around 100mph. At this point I actually had to sit down on the pavement to steady myself and shoot the best footage of my life so far!

The storm evolved rapidly, growing wider & narrower, producing intermittently visible suction vortices which surely caused the bulk of the damages, so far preliminarily rated EF3+ with winds of 165 mph and higher. Personally, I'm certain this storm caused solid EF4 damage with winds between 166 to near 200mph! I will provide more information & links once they are available. Needless to say, this was a massive and POWERFUL tornado!

VORTEX 2: The Calm Before the Storm

2010-05-09T13:06:00.012-06:00

It's been some time since I've posted here...the storm season has so far been unusually benign and with final VORTEX2 preparations underway the forecast once again calls for a long week of chasing, documenting and studying whichever monster supercells we'll be able to keep up with.

While our excitement levels are surging to an electrifying peak this week's forecast models depict an alarming situation for damaging storms with potentially numerous powerful tornadoes poised to leave lengthy paths of destruction across the heart of tornado alley-- uncomfortably close to populated & congested metropolitan areas.

The usual speculations exist of strong tornadoes and/or large hail hitting town centers like Oklahoma City or surrounding suburbs and further north/northeast into southern Kansas & eventually beyond. One of the higher concerns for our research armada and the nearby communities will be fast storm motions with forecasts now showing storm speeds of around 40 kts (nearly 50 mph!). Needless to say, such speeds on likely destructive tornadic storms going into the night is unnerving.

This year, our role as vehicle Probe 8 will be sampling the small & short-lived Descending Reflectivity Core, inflow and surging mini gust front as it travels cyclonically around the tornado and moves toward and eventually into the storm's dark core. Our Professors at the OU School of Meteorology have a renewed focus in this area which they believe to hold key information as to the strong thermodynamics & locations of specific air masses circulating around the tornado. More info on this soon.

Today's AM Briefing in Amarillo, TX

Glamor Shots: Hoxie, KS Tornado May '08

2009-11-07T16:48:00.017-07:00

A couple of my favorite pics of the large Hoxie, KS tornado from May 22, '08.
Contrast-enhanced to emphasize details in the intricate multivortex structure...

Although no wind speed measurements were taken with the absence of the DOWs & lack of damage in the sparsely populated area, from the NSSL Online Tornado FAQ:

"Suction vortices can add over 100 mph to the ground-relative wind in a tornado circulation."

So, assuming winds in the larger tornado were around 150 mph--a very rough estimate, for the sake of argument--this means the total tangential (horizontal circulating) wind speeds could possibly have very briefly reached 250 mph! Of course, even with mobile Doppler scans, determining wind speeds in suction vortices is generally impossible due to their small sizes (especially compared to the larger tornado) and extremely short, transient lifespans.

For more pictures, visit my photo gallery.

Heene Family Balloon Fiasco

2009-10-19T17:33:00.004-06:00

Since this bonafide publicity stunt/attention seeking fiasco first started (and escalated out of control faster than a speeding rocket), I have been questioned about this little story by more than a few people, friends and family alike. Most of them simply asked what validity if any there was to their story, and whether I knew of this so-called family.

SO, while I am posting this a bit after the fact since it is widely known that their little stunt and ensuing wild goose chase was in fact a hoax/publicity stunt, etc., this will serve as more of a review of why I've become extremely disenchanted with how the media...ahem, CNN!!!...handled this ridiculous situation. Certainly not the first time...

First off: I can understand when a couple of REAL storm chasers land a same-day interview on Larry King Live to tout their 'phenomenal' accomplishment of getting video from inside a tornado (vis-a-vis SevereStudios.com last year). I can also understand and even appreciate when major news networks tune in to one or two storm chasers tracking the eye of a devastating hurricane making landfall on a Gulf coast.

What I cannot understand, appreciate, or have much respect for is when a major, "reputable", 24/7 network--like CNN--chooses to devour a senseless story like the Heene fabrication and over-sensationalize the hell out of it while falsely reporting the "family" as so-called storm chasers (or "weather chasers", as the local Denver stations called them, LOL!!).
Now, while the infamous Larry King interview (conducted by Wolf Blitzer??...hmmm) was ultimately the first unraveling of their pathetic scheme, the manner in which CNN stumbled all over itself to give the Heene's their exclusive worldwide broadcast--EXACTLY as they had planned earlier this year--is just another sorry example of the broadcast media's ineptitude (both local & national) in choosing QUALITY pieces to report on & disseminate, brashly clamoring for the first 'interesting' or noteworthy story.

Secondly: How can I put this one more simply...WHY WOULD SO MANY NETWORKS AND STATIONS PLASTER THIS ALL OVER THEIR CHANNELS WITHOUT CROSS-CHECKING THEIR SOURCES & REFERENCES?? Sure it made for a dramatic and tantalizing piece as it was claimed, but to be blunt this one just made everyone look damn stupid!

So, unfortunate as Falcon & his brothers are to get caught up in their parent's harebrained scheme, to the parents I say this:

"You reap what you sow!!"

Good riddance.

Storm Chasers Discovery Channel '09!

2009-09-03T12:22:00.009-06:00

Going into its 3rd season, the Storm Chasers Series on the Discovery Channel premieres Oct. 18 at 8/10pm MT/ET...

The chasers & their intrepid crews work to get INSIDE several twisters, with a few successful intercepts- including one noted tornado which our team was VERY near- LaGrange, Wyoming!!
From what I've heard, they might even have the elusive & dangerous "straight-up view" into a tornado! We know they made a DIRECT intercept with the June 5th Wyoming tornado, with the hefty TIV crossing into the debris field during the tornado's stronger stage and Reed Timmer's Dominator getting passed directly OVER by the twister at a different point. Either way, the super-successful teamwork of VORTEX2 during the June 5th Wyoming intercept & study should make this a very interesting series.

Here's a fun clip from the Season 2 finale:

Lightning Storms on Aug. 17

2009-08-24T17:25:00.006-06:00

This afternoon a flurry of slow-moving storms went up between 4-5 pm. I managed to capture a few of the closer strikes on video. Average distances were no more than two miles away!

First "strike" was very impressive. Actually consisted of four separate bolts hitting in rapid sequence, with the last bolt generating about 4 flashes before discharging (furthest left in the center picture). Of course, that all happened in 1.1 seconds (:-)
Later that night, areas from Denver south got hit with hail & more lightning. The foothills & adjacent mountains were also pummeled by an elongated thunderstorm that generated prolific lightning up until late night. I was unfortunately stuck in a meeting at that time.

*UPDATE*
Just for kicks, here's the video clip of that powerful strike:

2009-08-13T23:50:00.003-06:00

Just got back from a nice trip to Southern Cali for a visit with family & friends. We basically split our time between Newport Beach & LA. Been a while, but I did manage to snap a few sweet cloudscapes from the air. Gotta make the most of every moment.... (;-)

Just below cruising altitude on the way there

Here's a low-res shot of the Grand Canyon from 30,000 ft.

2009-07-13T23:09:00.003-06:00

Caught the tornado in extreme northeast Wyoming today, albeit from a distance!! Touched down at 6:35pm MDT in Crook County near I-90 just west of the South Dakota border. We observed the tornado during the latter half of its life cycle for several minutes prior to rope-out from the town of Belle Fourche (French for "beautiful fork").

Unfortunately, large hills & road construction prevented us fom getting a clear visual of the reported "large tornado", but nevertheless the fact that our target area verified (along with SPC's very accurate 10% tornado risk!) as having produced the ONLY large tornado of the day was great! My only great regret is not having my camera & zoom lens on hand to capture it. Did get nice video of the VERY structuresque supercell though!

More details soon...

2009-07-10T16:42:00.004-06:00

Been a while since I updated the blog, so here's a few favorite pics:

La Grange, Wyoming tornado during its mature stage

Less than a mile away!

Close-in shot of the symmetrical vortex wrapping itself in rain & hail

2009-05-18T21:03:00.007-06:00

Finally got a chance to get the mesonet rack mounted! After considerable difficulty in finding the Yakima rail clamps & getting everyone on the same schedule (mounting this thing alone would've been impossible), we got her done!

We already drove through a tremendous rain & wind storm that barreled through OKC the next day and the system held up perfectly. Initially, I was concerned that any rain or moisture might leak between the clamps' rubber grip & roof rail causing the whole thing to slip, but that wasn't the case at all. Next step: get all wires connected & a gel-based car battery to power the rig (or power it thru the car's battery), then get the software installed that will analye the raw data and display it in real-time on my laptop screen.

The system was designed to instantly measure & display local atmospheric variables such as temperature, moisture & humidity, air pressure, and precise wind speed & direction. All readings are updated continuously on a computer screen.

Setting up the mesonet bracket

Duct taping some sharp corners

Yeahh!! All mounted up (:-D)

Almost Ready to go!!

2009-05-15T18:15:00.008-06:00

Went on an incredible storm chase in north-central Oklahoma, starting the day in Enid with low tornado potential overall. Tracked a couple storms that erupted over west-central part of the state & quickly became awesome lightning producers but very high-based with almost nil tornado potential. After enjoying those, we headed north/east to Enid then to I-35 hoping to intercept a couple of tornado warned supercells, only one actually produced before we caught up to it, so we shot south on I-35 to Guthrie (just north of OKC) & intercepted an INCREDIBLE massive lightning storm with some rotation but mostly powerful positive CG lightning with cannon-fire thunder!
The lightning gradually became constant around/after sunset & we were treated to one of the most powerful and highly visible lightning super-storms we had witnessed in a long time.
Photos are minimally post-processed to enhance visibility & contrast. ENJOY!

Positive CG strike beneath rotating storm at Guthrie, OK

Gorgeous Curling Lightning

Just east of Edmond, OK

Powerful double strike not far away

TRIPLE Cloud-Ground Strikes!!!

2009-05-11T13:56:00.032-06:00

Notwithstanding a highly conditional chase day tomorrow (parameters look fantastic, but a strong CAP might prevent anything from happening), Wednesday starting to look interesting.
As of this point, I won't be posting any details on locations or target areas until up to several days after the fact, but will continue to post pictures and even short video clips from any successful chases, time permitting of course.

Today is a down day (i.e. no storm chasing). The crews are working on installing specialized software that will collect all data from each of the mesonet vehicles & display it in real time on the FC's (Field Coordinator's) computer screen. The name of the game for this project is keeping as many facets of the operation (especially redundant tasks) running as smoothly & automated as possible. The technology behind this is really amazing! Anyway, here's another cool tornado picture from my collection (click for larger image)...

More info soon...

VORTEX2 Media Day, TX/OK Red River Gentleman's Chase

2009-05-09T13:26:00.023-06:00

The Naval Post-Graduate School's CIRPAS Radar
(NASA funded, used to coordinate Unmanned Autonomous Systems
i.e. self-guided aerial vehicles, in adverse weather)

Yesterday presented us with an awesome local chase after the fun & informative media day at the National Weather Center, with storms forecast to go up within the extreme instability/moisture axis across south-central OK by mid-late afternoon. For once, the forecast models verified with HUGE supercells forming shortly BEFORE sunset with tops shooting up to 70,000 feet within an environment characterized by 5,500 CAPE!! Many pictures to sort thru, so here's a few of the best:

Howie Bluestein's UMASS Close-Range Tornado Radar

CSWR (Center for Severe Weather Research) Support Vehicles

NSSL mesonet minivans fully equipped & ready to go

Cloud-ground lightning just north of Thakerville, OK (far south-central OK).
It was around 11:15pm & the lightning became constant, with flashes to our north & east.

Norman Trip

2009-05-07T08:33:00.003-06:00

Staying in Norman, OK over the past week into this weekend. Gearing up for VORTEX2 & a potent local storm chase tomorrow. Oklahoma City NWS mentioning giant hail & tornadoes--not at all surprising considering the progged 7500 SBCAPE into tomorrow afternoon/evening with SBCIN almost completely eroded. Dewpoints pooling to upper-70s over a wide swath from DFW-Wichita Falls-southern OK.

Only concern is the almost total lack of helicity & rapid movement of the cold front (outflow dominant storms?). Mesoscale (storm-scale) interactions in such a strongly mixed atmosphere might be the only real hope for severe wx.