(click on any pics to enlarge)
The Carolinas Flute Circle was having one of its semi-monthly gathering at a member's home south of Lugoff, SC, which is just NE of Columbia. As I was driving down late Saturday morning, the radio station cut in with a newly posted tornado watch for most of SC.
Great. I had thought about bringing my laptop since it has a boogie-jam radar program on it and can run off of a cell phone signal at DSL speed. Naturally, I opted not to bring it since I had so many other things in tow...and the Saturday storm reports below tell the story, especially for South Carolina:
The tornado in Atlanta Friday, one day prior, caught all the big headlines with its damage and ripping the top of the Georgia Dome while basketball tournament play was going on...but Saturday's cells were something to behold.
And so it was I was on the road around 5-ish to return north, picking up I-20 NE of Columbia heading back in to pick up I-77 north back home when I came close to one of the tornadoes. The radio reports were of golf-ball sized hail, torrential rains and winds from the cell just off to my right, with the sky exceedingly dark.
I mused how I was glad I wasn't in the thick of it, remarking to myself that I was under the southern edge of the storm/clouds with sun trying to peek out a little to the left side. Didn't take me but a second to realize that in many instances tornadoes form on the southern edges of cells...and as I crest one large hill, I looked ahead on I-20 only to see a debris cloud cover the road, with cars pulled off everywhere.
Unfortunately, by that time the rains were so hard my cell phone pictures didn't show well what my eyes were seeing...and while I didn't see the funnel per se (hard to do unless you're right at it in such rain and turbulence), I found out later there was one and it passed just to my right, north. Had I taken an alternate back highway home, Highway 34 through Lugoff, I would have been square in its path. I had decided beforehand that the interstate would be safer if the weather got dangerous. Good choice, eh?
Just before I crest that hill, there was little rain but all the tale-tell signs of a potential tornadic cell. I took this with my cell phone because the green glow was especially luminous and eerie, and while not as dramatic as midwest storm wall clouds, there were lower-rung wall clouds there just the same. And you can clearly see the edge of the storm, with the tornado just over the rise.
There was a moment after I and just about everybody had pulled over on I-20 that I was going to buckle the passenger seatbelt and lay down with it around me as well, just in case...but in a matter of a couple of minutes it was clearly north of the interstate and moving away from my location. Goose bumps the size of BBs were all over me as I was not scared but in awe of being close enough to see all that was happening but not be too close, risking injury.
Just one of the 38 tornado reports from across the Southeast Saturday, that one. And while I didn't see or get close to any other atmospheric hombres, I certainly had periods of those torrential downpours that make you get off the road to sit it out. Enough fun for one day. As an additional observation from the day, there is a boatload of not only idiotic but dangerous drivers on our highways.
And then there was Sunday. Ah, a gorgeous, sunny day, and a complete flip-flop from 24 hours earlier. There was only one sight that made me wonder in that peaceful sunshine...wonder and muse a bit...my neighbor's tulip tree is now in bloom.
And....? Tomorrow's post, friends. A blooming tulip tree tells me something...
The Carolinas Flute Circle was having one of its semi-monthly gathering at a member's home south of Lugoff, SC, which is just NE of Columbia. As I was driving down late Saturday morning, the radio station cut in with a newly posted tornado watch for most of SC.
Great. I had thought about bringing my laptop since it has a boogie-jam radar program on it and can run off of a cell phone signal at DSL speed. Naturally, I opted not to bring it since I had so many other things in tow...and the Saturday storm reports below tell the story, especially for South Carolina:
The tornado in Atlanta Friday, one day prior, caught all the big headlines with its damage and ripping the top of the Georgia Dome while basketball tournament play was going on...but Saturday's cells were something to behold.And so it was I was on the road around 5-ish to return north, picking up I-20 NE of Columbia heading back in to pick up I-77 north back home when I came close to one of the tornadoes. The radio reports were of golf-ball sized hail, torrential rains and winds from the cell just off to my right, with the sky exceedingly dark.
I mused how I was glad I wasn't in the thick of it, remarking to myself that I was under the southern edge of the storm/clouds with sun trying to peek out a little to the left side. Didn't take me but a second to realize that in many instances tornadoes form on the southern edges of cells...and as I crest one large hill, I looked ahead on I-20 only to see a debris cloud cover the road, with cars pulled off everywhere.
Unfortunately, by that time the rains were so hard my cell phone pictures didn't show well what my eyes were seeing...and while I didn't see the funnel per se (hard to do unless you're right at it in such rain and turbulence), I found out later there was one and it passed just to my right, north. Had I taken an alternate back highway home, Highway 34 through Lugoff, I would have been square in its path. I had decided beforehand that the interstate would be safer if the weather got dangerous. Good choice, eh?
Just before I crest that hill, there was little rain but all the tale-tell signs of a potential tornadic cell. I took this with my cell phone because the green glow was especially luminous and eerie, and while not as dramatic as midwest storm wall clouds, there were lower-rung wall clouds there just the same. And you can clearly see the edge of the storm, with the tornado just over the rise.
There was a moment after I and just about everybody had pulled over on I-20 that I was going to buckle the passenger seatbelt and lay down with it around me as well, just in case...but in a matter of a couple of minutes it was clearly north of the interstate and moving away from my location. Goose bumps the size of BBs were all over me as I was not scared but in awe of being close enough to see all that was happening but not be too close, risking injury.
Just one of the 38 tornado reports from across the Southeast Saturday, that one. And while I didn't see or get close to any other atmospheric hombres, I certainly had periods of those torrential downpours that make you get off the road to sit it out. Enough fun for one day. As an additional observation from the day, there is a boatload of not only idiotic but dangerous drivers on our highways.
And then there was Sunday. Ah, a gorgeous, sunny day, and a complete flip-flop from 24 hours earlier. There was only one sight that made me wonder in that peaceful sunshine...wonder and muse a bit...my neighbor's tulip tree is now in bloom.
And....? Tomorrow's post, friends. A blooming tulip tree tells me something...
2 comments:
Close call? Yeah, I definitely think you named this post right.
You almost accidentally became a storm chaser. Lesson learned: no matter what else you have to carry with you on a trip, remember that laptop, bob, so the radar can let you see what's ahead of you.
Yep, Lori, no matter how much gear I'm lugging in the future, laptop will be with me in dubious weather situations like that!
bob
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