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Storm Spotting in Georgia

                                           SAFETY!!!!
 Safety is the up most important thing in spotting, not just for yourself but for others impacted by a weather system. To start always obey all traffic laws. Just because you are involved in a community service it doesn't give you the right to endanger others by speeding or blowing through stop signs. This year 3 storm chasers lost their lives while chasing a tornado west of  Spur, Texas  in a automobile collision. One of the storm chasers disregarded a stop sign (per police report) and collided with another fellow chasers vehicle. This is a prime example of "The thrill of the Chase",a chaser can get so entranced with the chase they will sometimes lose all focus on the road and surroundings.  Remember it's not just your life you are playing with it's the people around you as well.

The rules that I chase by are "If I think it's going to kill me, it will". Don't panic stay as calm as possible. If a power line is down, its energized do not touch. Turn around, don't drown.

  One of the major factors in spotting safely in the south are the trees and topography. The line of sight in North Georgia can be as much as 10 miles or as less than a few hundred yard. Always make line of sight your number 1 safety factor during a chase,

Training and storm spotting classes
There is a ton of material online one can read up on and study and also NOAA puts on some of the best storm spotting classes and you will receive  a certificate with your own storm spotter number. MetEd also has a online courses that are free. Spotter network has training as well along with storm reporting.

Safety Gear
  Gear that I carry are a First Aid kit is a must, Safety glasses or goggles, Helmet, flash lights, leather gloves and a good map or GPS. A cell phone GPS can be used but most are inaccurate. Some other not so serious things are food and drink. With chases lasting more than 12 hours, Dehydration and a sudden drop in blood sugar levels can kill you or make you combat ineffective.


 Exits
  Always know what road to use and when. Having more than one exit will greatly increase your safety value.

Photo courtesy of PYKL3
This is a screen shot of a tornado warned storm over Cherokee county Ga on June 22 2017 .
Note the location of the red triangle (tornado)

Photo courtesy of Google
In Georgis 99% of all tornadic storms will move from the South West to North East with some moving East to West. The best observation point  will tend to be South and East of the storm. This storm passed over residential areas with a good road system. Now what are my exits? North on Hwy 575 will take me into the path of the storm. North West on Ridgewalk Parkway  is a no go situation!!!. South and East is my route of choice,  Ridgewalk Parkway will lead me to Old Hwy 5 that will take me south out of danger or take me North to East Cherokee Drive that can take me North and East so I can re position  on this same storm. Having a copilot with the ability to navigate is a must. It is very difficult for  a 1 man crew to drive, navigate and keep an eye on the storm.


Parts of a storm
A classic supercell storm in North Georgia is a rare site, most of the time the storm will have little visible structure and being a HP (High Precipitation) supercell.  Some of the areas and terms to get familiar with are Wall cloud, RFD (rear flank downdraft), Forward flank gust front, and Hail core to name a few. Below is a photo courtesy of NOAA dictates a few key areas of a storm.

Notice the clear rain free base or sometimes called the updraft base under the flanking line. That is the area that will be to the south and west of the RFD. The area will have inflow jet feeding the storm. A rotating wall cloud or tornado will sometimes develop in the northern area of the rain free base.  In the center of the photo is the wall cloud and tornado. This section of the storm is refereed to as the Bear's Cage. The bear's cage is one of the most dangerous areas of the storm due to the proximity of the tornado and unseen dangers such as inflow jets known as a ghost train. The bear's cage my also contain satellite tornadoes as well. The area to the right will contain heavy rain and hail.

When studying for your storm spotter certificate there will be examples of more dramatic super cell storms.

Below is a radar image from the 2011 Tornado outbreak. Photos courtesy of Weather.gov

Notice the hook shape or "C" shape in the reflective scan. A tornado will sometimes form in the lower end of the hook.

The photo below of a lowering wall cloud and funnel I photographed in Rydal Ga. April 22 2015.

This was as close as I was willing to get to this storm. I had a good exit to the south on Hwy 411. The only other exits I had were Hwy 140 West and East. West would have taken me away from the Bears cage but close to the RFD and East would have put me to close to the bears cage. I dug in at this spot and waited for the storm to pass and then proceeded North on Hwy 411 to do damage reports. Luckily this storm did not produce a tornado just some strong winds with little to no damage.

Below is a historic Georgia Tornado track map from 1950 to the 2011 outbreak curtsy of NOAA

   As you can see by the storm tracks the majority of tornadic storms move from the South West to the North East. That is why I reiterate staying on the storms Southeastern side.   If a land falling tropical system is the cause of the tornadic storms. The cells can move from south to north or south east to north west.   Now that you have a few pointers in where and what to look for let's chase.                             

   Most of the tornadic producing systems that occur in Northern Georgia are what's called a QLCS (Quasi-linear convective system). A QLCS is a line of storms with tornadic cells that are rain wrapped;
Below photo of a QLCS curtsy of accuweather.com 

                        Notice the shapes of these storm no classic super cell shapes.  Looks like a line of normal summertime thunderstorms. Don't let the photo fool you these are storms generated from tropical storm Cindy on June 23 2017 at 16:43.  Any one of these storms can and most likely go tornadic. This is when you need to keep your head on a swivel.

Chasing the storm
When you are finally on a storm and being safe as possible. Stand still for a few moment and observe what the storm is doing. Note the direction the clouds are moving and the size of the storm. If the storm appears to be getting bigger it's due to it moving in your direction. This is the time to make plans on exits just encase the storm stays on your direct path. In the case a storm is closing in on you move in the opposite direction don't drive into a storm! Obey traffic laws and have curtsy for emergency and law enforcement vehicles.  For the storm in the above photo, its moving in a Northeast direction.My starting location would be South East of the Hook Echo. This position will give me the greatest view point. I will stay to the south east making use of the road network. To achieve this drive north then east in a stair step motion until I can go no further. Approaching the storm from the south west would put me in the RFD. Do not drive into the bear's cage due to the storm being rain wrapped with high winds and the possibility of satellite tornadoes rotating around the parent tornado.

Reporting
Reporting storm damage or extreme conditions. Trees, and power lines downs, roof and structure damage are reports common in storm spotting. When reporting  extreme conditions be as precise as possible. For wind speed a anemometer is handy, for hail size keep some coins handy. Coins will help determine the size of the hail stones ie. dime size quarter size ect. for larger size use a common object like golf ball, baseball sizes ect. Be as truthful as possible NOAA will determine the quality of the report. If a report such as "it hailed in Cobb county" will not be published on spc.noaa.gov website.
A report containing details makes a world of difference. Example "Golf ball size hail was observed at the intersections of Hwy 41 and Allgood rd NE Mareietta Ga". Or "4 to 5 trees down along Old Hwy 41 between Stilesboro Rd NW and Ridenour Rd NW observed funnel cloud in same area moving NE".  This is what the SPC want more detail in a short as possible report. After a quality report is made you can log onto www.spc.noaa.gov to see what other reports were made in the same area. If a false report is made you could be banned from reporting.
Example

Photo curtsy of www.spc.noaa.gov

Photographing
The way I photograph a storm is use many cameras.  I start buy setting up one on a tripod to do a time lapse of the storm. I will have a Gopro mounted to the dash and or to the roof of my vehicle to catch video while driving. A camera hand held so I can single out parts of the storm as it matures. Setting up for a storm time lapse I want a exposure of 1 second for day light hours and 8 seconds for night time. I use a ND filter to get the 1 second exposure in day light hours. Evening time I will set to aperture priority mode and a low ISO this will adjust the exposure throughout the evening hours. When night falls I set to manual mode and bump my ISO till I get a even exposure. For an interval I always set for 1 second I want as many frames as possible.
The reason I shoot a long exposure is to capture lightning as seen in the photos below

Photos and video below belong to Scott Padgett and are copy righted

Massive shelf cloud on a gust front shot from my back yard.

Another large shelf cloud shot from Fort Mountain state park.

Another shot from the Rydal Ga storm shot after the funnel had lifted and the storm became outflow dominant.

Storm clouds rolling over head.

Chase any storm big or small

Large thunderstorm over Gilmer county Ga notice the pileus cloud rising above the top of the storm.

This shot is one of the more interesting shots for me. It may not look like much but this is a anti cyclonic supercell.

Final thoughts
Photographing and reporting a storm is a service to your local community. Enjoy the chase and be as safe as possible, obey the laws of the road and the laws of nature.