A suspicious lowering was a persistent feature of a tornado-warned storm as it approached me in Rockledge, Florida, on April 14. Photo by Chris Kridler, ChrisKridler.com
I decided to chase a decent chance of severe storms in central Florida on April 14, with at least the hope of testing my storm-chasing gear. That still needs work – and the first part of the chase was frustrating. The second was fueled with adrenaline.
Earlier in the day, I gave the Midland USA XTC-300 wearable camera a tryout during the storm-chase in central Florida on Sunday, in preparation for using it in Tornado Alley. In this short video, time-lapsed in editing, it was attached to my car with a suction-cup mount and stood up to highway speeds and rain. Video by Chris Kridler; music licensed from FootageFirm; camera courtesy Midland USA.
Sunday night, when a tornado-warned storm approached my neighborhood – with lots of attendant lightning – I decided to take a chance and see what I could get. Mostly, I wanted lightning, but the persistent rain made it hard to get a clear shot. However, I found myself in the path of a tornado-warned storm headed for Rockledge, Florida, and according to the radar, I was really in the path. The “hook echo” was pronounced and on track to collide with me. So I watched and photographed the storm with nervous anticipation.
What I saw at the time and in my photos was, shall we say, suspicious. Again, chasing at night, it’s very difficult to see and identify significant features such as funnels and tornadoes, when so-call scud clouds can mimic them easily. Yet the persistent feature in this photo (in several photos, actually) sure looked like a funnel.
The National Weather Service says there were likely two tornadoes, including one in Cocoa produced by the storm that spawned what I think was a funnel in my photographs.
Roll over a photo to see its caption, and click on any of the pictures to start a slide show of larger images. Note: Post updated with images from my old Sky Diary site.
