July 27, 2014

Statistics

Initial Target

Start

End

Storm Intercepts

Tornadoes

Hail

Wind

Features

Miles

Columbus, OH

Springfield, IL 8:13 AM 7/27/2014

Springfield, IL 10:07 PM 7/27/2014

Mechanicsburg, OH

0 mph

RFD Gust Front Bear's Cage, Beaver Tail

846

Summary

Summer supercell over Ohio. Target Columbus intercepting tornado warned storm near Mechanicsburg with low level rotation and wrapping rain bands. Storm quickly dissipated after intercepting.

Crew and Equipment

Solo chase. Equipment: Canon 60D, Canon t2i, Canon EFS 10-22, Canon EF 50mm, Sony HDR-xr500v..

Video

Map

Details

I was looking for summer supercell action and we had a favorable mix coming together in Ohio, further east than I had ever chased. Shear and instability combos were better further south in Kentucky, but the terrain is unworkable down there. I targeted southwest of Columbus for afternoon supercells.

A few cells went up northwest of Columbus by early afternoon and I headed for Mechanicsburg for the intercept just as the storm picked up a tornado warning with a hook. A beaver tail coming itno view:

Scuddy Updraft Base
Mechanicsburg, OH
2:38 PM

Structure was junky and scuddy, but the base was low with a lot of motion.

In the notch of the supercell there was some low level rotation where it looked like a portion of the gust front was wrapping up. There was a rush of wind and some spiraling rain bands, the remnants of an EF0 that was later surveyed in the area.

There are a bunch of diagonal roads in Ohio that made for some tricky manuevering around the storm. The storm overtook me as I repositioned with spiraling rain bands of a small Bear's Cage region and gusty winds. I got out ahead of the storm but it quickly fell apart so I called the chase and headed for home rather than pursue the cell into Columbus and bad terrain on the other side.

Conclusion

The furthest east I've ever chased, this chase was a borderline bust. Catching some action with a tornado warned supercell as the rain bands wrapped up with some level rotation after a brief, weak tornado was a fun and briefly exciting intercept though. The tornado that occurred was either rain wrapped or missing a condensation funnel as there no footage or photos emerged from it.

Lessons Learned

Give the storm a little more spacing when chasing on central Ohio's diagonal road grid.

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