Virginia Storm Chasing

To date this spring has been a ho-hum storm season here in the Old Dominion. Although I admit there have been at least two setups this month (May) which I haven’t been able to chase for other reasons, this has been a very disappointing chase year so far. In fact, the last couple of years have resulted in rather scanty chase results. The sole saving grace in 2024 was the last ...

After several days of well above normal May temperatures a backdoor cold front was forecast to sag southward across the Old Dominion. The SPC outlook for Thursday May 21st showed a Marginal Risk as a result:

Although instability (CAPE) values weren’t impressive – with little wind shear to boot – I was particularly interested in storms which would interact with t...

I wasn’t expecting much today, and it certainly fulfilled those expectations. The SPC Day 1 outlook had parts of Virginia along and west of the Blue Ridge under a Marginal Risk as a cold front pressed across the Appalachian Mountains:

Neither the CAPE (instability) nor the shear values were notable, but the prospect of actually seeing a storm during this very qu...