The rest of the story will be available on our second Convection Connection DVD. Scroll down to see earlier chase reports. For more aerial storm stories on video click the More Storms link.
Sharing the sky with thunderstorms is nothing new in aviation. Airplanes fly through areas of convective activity on a regular basis. Safely completing a flight when storms are present can only be accomplished when storm recognition and avoidance is utilized. It is true that we fly to thunderstorms but we try to maintain safe distances based on the type of storm being flown. In order to film thunderstorms we must fly to them as we did on this particular flight. Understanding the mechanics of a particular weather system responsible for the development of thunderstorms is key to safe navigation through areas of convective activity.
2009 hasn't exactly been a stellar year for storm chasers so far. The Vortex 2 team (the largest tornado research project ever) is getting sunburned thanks to an unusually benign thunderstorm season. Chasing storms by air has also proven to be uneventful. If my living depended on it, I'd be looking for work elsewhere. Well, actually it does. Is anyone hiring?
Memorial Day in the St. Louis metro area presented the first flyable storm system from a photographers point of view. Previous thunderstorm activity was accompanied by extreme haze or strong surface winds, both of which prevented safe flight and/or good photography. Needless to say, I got my fix on this flight.
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Departing St. Louis Regional with the intention of photographing the tornado-warned cell east of the airport.
Level at 8,500 feet, it became obvious this cell meant business.
Nine inches of rain fell over Edwardsville, IL from this slow mover.
Okay, it's no landing in the Hudson, but I certainly didn't expect to come back to this. I shouldn't be surprised though as this was the product of the same low pressure area that dumped two feet of rain on parts of Florida last week.
Stop back occasionally. With any luck there will be more aerial chase reports to add this season.
Aerial Storm Chasing May 25, 2009 by Wayne Meinhard
Aerial Storm Chasing 5-30-09 by Wayne Meinhard
The rumble of pre-dawn thunder signaled the beginning of what was to be a significant aerial photographic event in the St. Louis metro area. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning is what normal people do. But chasing storms with airplanes disqualifies me from anything considered normal behavior. The REO song "Time For Me To Fly" resonates in my head as I start the coffee pot and turn on the desk top.
A very weak shortwave in the northwest flow was responsible for elevated convection along a frontal boundary this morning. Certainly not worthy of a ground chase but the potential for good aerial stills and video was present.
Thunderstorm approaching Jerseyville, IL
Not much lightning but the rain core was worthy of respect.
Aerial Storm Chasing 6-12-09 by Wayne Meinhard
Filming for Convection Connection part two continues as we fly from St. Louis to Salina, Kansas. Accurate forecasting of thunderstorm development became tricky as numerous outflow boundaries were present from overnight convection. A stationary front existed across the Midwest for much of the week. This surface feature became the focal point for thunderstorm activity for several days. Red arrow on map indicates approximate flight path.
Thirty minutes into the flight it became evident that the the Gulf was open for business. Low level moisture was returning from the south setting the stage for an interesting flight.
After a quick stop in central Missouri for fuel (can't have too much gas when the weather becomes nasty) a reassessment of the weather called for a new destination. ICT (Wichita, KS) was the place to be based on the greatest instability parameters. The lowest levels were becoming saturated as local METARS were reporting dew points in the low seventies.
Progressing southwest over the Ozarks the sun was now out in earnest. An outflow boundary (yellow line on surface chart) was producing a sharp line of building cumulous.
Now over southwest Missouri, the advancing warm front obscured the ground with ceilings of 400 feet as we progressed west to ICT. Are those thunderstorms on the horizon?
View looking south, note rain shafts as they fall into storm inflow.
Sure enough! Elevated convection was forming as an upper level disturbance
charged along the advancing warm front.
Circumnavigating the north side of the thunderstorm, the lower cloud layer was
beginning to break up as we approached Wichita. A routine arrival into a gusty south wind would turn out to be the most turbulent portion of the entire trip.
As the plane was being fueled for the the next leg to Enid, Oklahoma, the surface wind at the airport shifted and was now gusting out of the north. Curious, as the warm front and associated southerly flow was north of Wichita. As a result of the cool north wind, the entire sky cleared of building cumulous. Bummer for storm chasers. Or was it?
A computer weather briefing revealed another outflow boundary advancing south from early morning thunderstorms that dissipated in central Kansas. Even though this surface feature was clearing out the sky over Wichita, it was advancing into a hot humid air mass which was currently under a tornado watch. Storm outflow boundaries act like mini cold fronts and often generate convective activity when progressing into an unstable environment.
Our flight to Enid would take us away from the area of expected storm development which would be a good thing if we didn't want to see storms.
Continue to Enid? Not!
Storm Prediction Center tornado outlook. Probability of a tornado within
25 miles of a point.
Having been offered the use of a free car from the airport, we decided to drive the local Kansas countryside for a while to observe thunderstorm development.
After all, there was a tornado watch and we were in Kansas. How cool is that?
Twenty miles south of the airport, it all began to come together. Supercell thunderstorms were developing explosively.
Severe thunderstorm warnings began popping as we raced down highway 77 chasing after the most ominous formations. As this last minute ground chase was totally unplanned, we were not properly equipped to seek out the most desirable storms. A portable National Weather Service radio was all we had. The weather radar and lightning detection equipment was in the plane.
Airplane GPS with NEXRAD weather display.
All photographs copyright protected!
Aerial Storm Chasing 6-18-09 by Wayne Meinhard
The end of this week brings mesoscale madness to the Midwest. A moderate risk of severe thunderstorms exists for Thursday and Friday through the mid Mississippi valley. Could make for some imteresting flying...
Thursday
Friday
Aerial Storm Chasing 6-18-09 by Wayne Meinhard
Our previous posts mentioned the term outflow boundary. Check out the photo below. The storm currently over east Kentucky is leaving a boundary which extends all the way into southern Illinois. Could be a focal point for new storm development!
Aerial Storm Chasing 6-22-09 by Wayne Meinhard
Went to Evansville, Indiana this morning to shoot progress photos of a large construction site. Storms were north and east of my entire route but I was unable to capture anything worth sharing. Here's a couple of images from my office...
Aerial Storm Chasing 6-24-09 by Wayne Meinhard
Check out our latest compilation...
Aerial Storm Chasing 6-25-09 by Wayne Meinhard
Far from spectacular but fun nevertheless!
Often in the summer the atmosphere is capped by a warm layer of air between 5000 and 7000 feet above the ground. This capping inversion usually prevents storms from brewing. The cap is easy to see here as it's holding down the haze. Sometimes the cap is overcome when the sun has been baking the surface all day or when colder air moves in aloft. That's when a cloud can burst through as seen below and rocket skyward becoming a thunderstorm.
Aerial Storm Chasing 7-18-09 by Wayne Meinhard
" What are you nuts?" This question frequents my desk more than I care to admit ,yet I understand why. Concerned or inquisitive readers see aerial storm chasing with a small aircraft as abnormal and dangerous to say the least. A friend recently said " I guess it would be cool to fly into a storm." Dude! You don't know what you are saying!" I don't fly into storms. I may fly in the general direction of where they are or literally chase after them but thanks to the marvelous invention called the zoom lens, I can get as close as I want without being dangerously close at all.
"Get There Itis" is the title of a chapter in our Convection Connection video which effectively simulates what it's like to be in a small aircraft taken down by a thunderstorm. (See link below). Thanks to the marvels of film editing software, I was able to turn an actual landing in light rain into a raging thunderstorm. Apparently I did a good job because of all of the e-mail I receive criticizing my unsafe flying in that segment. I've also been accused of being insensitive to the family of the pilot that crashed in that chapter. It's a simulation. It didn't really happen! It's definitely meant to scare the pants off any pilot stupid enough to take that kind of a risk. It's unconventional teaching for sure but it's effective nevertheless.
Safe flying is all about understanding what you are doing at all times and making wise choices therein. My teaching conveys the thought processes at hand and clearly states what's smart and what's not. So a word to those concerned, rest assured that air safety is paramount during our filming and Federal Aviation Regulations are obeyed in the process.
Here's a segment from the video chapter titled "Get There Itis"
Aerial Storm Chasing 7-18-09 by Wayne Meinhard
Where's summer? Here in the Mid Mississippi valley our air conditioners
are quiet and the clouds are flat. July normally provides beautiful convective activity but this year is an exception, hence the lack of posts here. Aside from a nocturnal thunderstorm on occasion, the sky has been quiet. Here's a couple of images from the back side of a recent mesoscale complex. Nothing to write home about (mom does enjoy storms) but interesting nevertheless.
