« :: Obligatory iPhone Post | Main | :: Savanna Portage »
July 3, 2007
:: Lakeville Wallcloud
KD0ASB was out storm spotting for Metro SKYWARN this afternoon and evening. Being that I am still not hooked up with a decent mobile rig, I am relying still on my father-in-law's HT. It hits the repeater at 5W if and when the position and conditions are right...meaning I can't stray too far from the Twin Cities Repeater Club receiver sites in Burnsville and Credit River. I am having a good day if I can hit it from my home, from indoors (which I have several times).
Anyway, the first cell was developing in central and southern Scott and Dakota counties when the SKYWARN net went on informal activation. I headed south to Airlake airport and had some really good views of the back side of the storm. There were several lowerings and I was eying a non-rotating wall cloud for about 5 minutes, and it went back into the main storm as it pushed off into Farmington. I retreated back up Cedar Ave to home base and checked up on radar, etc. By this time it was around 5:30-5:40, and the net had already gone to "formal" activation per National Weather Service request.
The next round (or cell) that was bound for Lakeville was located in southern Hennepin, moving into northern Scott (just crossing the river from Bloomington into Savage). One of the spotters in Savage broke in with a rotating wall cloud report. I immediately hit the road to higher ground to take a look...it would be headed right for us.
Walking outside, it was extremely ominous...quiet, still and dark. Clouds overhead were moving in different directions. I knew it was close by. I went to North Park, which is higher up and in more of the clear from the surrounding neighborhood canopies of Oak, Ash, and Maple trees. As the edge of the rain shaft nicked the park with light rain and a gust of wind, I observed the wall cloud, just to the southeast...and it was beginning to rotate! I called the the report. Within a minute later, another spotter in Apple Valley confirmed hail from the same cell. Here is a closeup of the radar at the time of my report of the wall cloud. The pink arrow points to my approximate location (I would be right at the tip).
Notice the notch-like echo? Not exactly a hook echo, but notches denote some sort of circulation is trying to get started. I looked in the truck for my camera...I HADN'T GRABBED IT!! Argh! So, the lousy camera-phone shot at the top of this post is all I got. Lesson learned for next time! Regardless, it was exciting...this would be my second official report to SKYWARN as a ham (the first being a hail report back in late May).
Posted by pierre at July 3, 2007 8:25 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.meggisi.org/mt4.01/mt-tb.cgi/271