The Aug. 17 storm was really electric, as seen from Melbourne looking east over the Indian River Lagoon. Photo by Chris Kridler, ChrisKridler.com, SkyDiary.com
I missed the Brevard County funnel clouds on Aug. 17 but caught the tail end of the line heading out to sea. Photo by Chris Kridler, ChrisKridler.com, SkyDiary.com
You’d think, as a freelancer, I’d always have some time to be in the right place during a storm. No – I’m a working stiff, too, and so I was shooting restaurant photos when the funnel clouds/waterspout were reported Friday in Brevard County, Florida. A friend called me to tell me she’d filmed a funnel in the Suntree area, and it was a beauty. Leave it to the storm chaser to miss it …
So after my last assignment, I rushed north to Melbourne to catch the tail end of the storms as they went out to sea. The motion and structure were pretty, but I didn’t see any funnels – just a deceptive feature that was sort of the right shape, but not, as far as I could tell, the real thing. The feature, which appears to consist of condensing scud clouds, is pictured below (at right in photo). At least I got a lucky daytime lightning bolt. I definitely didn’t have “Funnel Vision” on Friday!
This feature certainly had my attention for a few minutes, given the funnel reports, but I can’t say that’s what this was. Photo by Chris Kridler, ChrisKridler.com, SkyDiary.com