Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Big Storm...Close Call

Numerous reports of rotation and a wall cloud were coming out of the storm that hit the Fulton area tonight. We hit a high temperature of 96 today and I recorded a max dew point temp of 78! By around 4:00 p.m., I could see the signature cirrus clouds being blown our direction indicating a large storm brewing to our NW. Surely enough, a HUGE supercell had formed in Northwest Missouri, and was kicking up severe storm warnings with large hail reports.

Before long, another cell formed in northern Boone county and quickly intensified. It had a path headed straight for us, and the clouds ahead of the storm were simply amazing. Here is a shot I took, looking almost due West of the southern part of this storm:


What a beautiful storm it was.

Not long after this picture was taken, as the storm was approaching, reports began to come in of a wall cloud being spotted. As soon as that was reported, the sirens went off. So off to the tornado shelter we went (our neighbors across the street -- we don't have a basement!). The lightning was INTENSE! I wouldn't be surprised if two bolts of lightning hit our subdivision.

At 8:01 p.m., hail began to fall. It was very intermittent, and started as pea to penny sized. After a couple of minutes, the hail grew in size to a max of 1.25" (est).


This picture was taken about 10 minutes after it fell (I waited until the lightning was far enough away), so I'm sure it was a little larger when it fell.

A weather spotter saw a well defined funnel cloud to the north of Fulton, but to my knowledge, no tornadoes were spotted.

After this storm passed, the big supercell that was trailing it broke up, going to our north and to our south.

8 comments:

Ami Jo said...

Wow!!! Great pics WxWatcher!!! Do you know of any reports of damage from the storm (besides your car??)

I'll try to update my post with flood pictures tonight after my boys play ball.

Have a great day! <3 Ami

J. Wright said...

Hail, yes! We enjoyed the storm and missed the damage.

Josh Herman said...

Those temperatures and dewpoints are outrageous... well at least coming from this WI native & resident.

Impressive hail stones and photo capture of the passing storm, WxWatcher. All the things you've been experiencing this season so far... how very exciting. Thanks for sharing it with the world!

WxWatcher said...

Thanks for the comments guys. I am glad to get a chance to share our weather with you all!

Ami -- No other damage. My tomatoes fared better through this storm than the one with 1/2" hail! The peppers are leaning a bit now, though..

J. Wright -- Glad you got to enjoy the storm, I saw that it skimmed the north part of your area. Wasn't sure if you'd get the bulk of it or not. It sure got scary down here!

OSNW3 -- This is why I love Missouri weather. So far this month, after 18 days we have had 8 of them with thunder (either in the vicinity, or as a storm). It has been an exciting June!

Josh Herman said...

Ok, WxWatcher, the dewpoint up here is 71° currently (NWS). My temp is 74° currently and the NWS says 77°. (As you know my temp gauge never sees sunlight so it's usually a tad cooler.)

Don't get me wrong. This humidity feels great, but I am sad to say that with the dewpoints being so high I think I may have to turn the AC on tonight to dry the inside of the house out. UGH, I hate having to do that... and it looks like the sun is about to intrude on our perfectly cloudy day. :)

Also, I think I might put my new wx station temp gauge up so I can read my own dewpoints. I might do that now...

Happy Fathers Day!

WxWatcher said...

71, eh? I feel your pain dude. Luckily, I have the day off of work, so I'm enjoying the day inside.

Happy Fathers Day to you, too! Did you receive a new temperature gauge for your special day? Or was it just time for a new one?

What kind of wx station do you have?

Josh Herman said...

WxWatcher, thunderstorms moving in now. We have In-Laws in town this weekend so we turned on the AC. No natural relief in site.

I got a La Crosse WS-2317 a few months ago. I haven't put it to use until today. I wanted a dewpoint reading for today as today is the first real humid day we've had. I need to mount the anemometer yet... Paid $100 for it. It didn't come with the rain gauge (probably why it was only $100)

Anonymous said...

Great pictures!

The temps and dew points ARE extreme! We're under a heat advisory today and heat index readings could hit 100 degrees! :0
*gulp*