I was reading a forum earlier today and learned a quite famous storm chaser who is featured repeatedly on the Discovery Channel passed away from depression.  I don’t say he died of suicide, because frankly thats not what killed him – depression was.  To those that have not gone through depression try not to judge, but if you are going through it right now PLEASE SEEK HELP!

Matt Hughes, Meteorologist and Storm Chaser

Here is a radar shot from 8:45 AM.  I’m hoping to get a good round this morning.  You can click to enlarge any image.

Look at the winds coming out of this storm going into Allegan and Ottawa Counties…. the brighter the green the higher the velocity of the winds.

NWS says spotter activation may be needed Friday and Saturday…. sounds like a joyous occasion.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls and morons who go by the name Strikethebox online…. presenting my new identity.  But before we unveil my new identity lets talk about something else…. changing my name.

Some people sent me emails asking if I was going to change my name to Kate’s last name Kenitz….. Kate and I actually have discussed this before and if we got married it was what we were going to do.  Kate and I have a mutual friend who changed his last name to his wife’s when they married and we though it was so sweet.  I’m not going to do it before were married (if we get back together) as frankly I need commitment for that big of a change.

Call Signs

As many of you know I’m an amateur “ham” radio operator.  I don’t know where the ham came from, and frankly I prefer turkey as a white meat.  Anyway the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issues every ham radio operator a call sign when there licensed – much like your favorite radio and TV station.  Mine was KC8OFR which meant absolutely nothing to me.  Most radio stations and TV stations have a call sign that means something to the radio station or its audience…. here are a few locally…

• WWMT – Were West Michigan Television
• WOOD - A tribute to Grand Rapid’s former furniture industry
• WKZO – Kalamazoo
• WKFR - Were Kalamazoo’s Favorite Radio
• WAKV – Allegan Kalamazoo VanBuren

Those are just a few of the call signs in the area that you may know of that mean something to the station or their audience…. well now I have a call sign that means something to me.

WX8ZAC

Yes my call sign is no longer KC8OFR…. it is now WX8ZAC.  Now let me break down why I picked this call sign below.

WX = An abbreviation for weather which is becoming a huge interest of mine.  In fact I’m thinking about going into meteorology.
8 = 8 is the region of the country Michigan is… the FCC divides the country into 10 regions 0-9
ZAC = Short for Zach…. which is my name.

So this was a “porch chase”… I went outside to look at a thunderstorm and it turned into much more!  Can’t ask for much more then that.  SEVERE WEATHER SPOTTED:

• Rotating Wall Cloud
• Funnel Cloud

THIS STORM PRODUCED:

• Hail
• 2 Tornadoes

As is typical with Michigan Funnel Clouds it was very short lived and hard to spot.  I used my Kodak ZX1 (and decided this camera is clearly not for shooting severe weather – so you can’t see much, sorry).  But the video is below.

So everyone is whining about how hot it is out, and I decided to measure the hotness in a scientific manor.  I heard rumors that you could cook an egg on pavement in hot weather, so I decided to try it.  It should be noted that when I made this video according to the National Weather Service office in Grand Rapids, MI it was 91 degrees out and Sunny.  This video was recorded about 3 PM and the parking lot was still under direct sunlight.  So with everyone complaining of the heatwave is it hot enough to cook an egg…. well here is the video.

Care For Breakfast?

So while this was really not a storm chase and more of a spotting session with a friend I got some good video of a shelf cloud approaching Kalamazoo, MI.  We were spotting from the corner of West Main and 4th Street just west of Kalamazoo.  This storm was warned for a tornado in the county west of us and frankly it was a bit overwarned in my oppinion.  However there was a very good shelf cloud on this thing.

This was my first chase with the Kodak ZX1 I just purchased.  I think this camera does a great job – I just need to learn to shoot some better video!

Today’s idiot storm chaser is brought to you by Bellevue, MI.  This guy is clearly a danger to the public.

Converation With Idiot Storm Chaser

In order to protect the incompetent I have censored this person’s name but it seems this person has no regard for safety of themselves or others at all.  They just want the thrills with no regard for the danger or respect for the weather there in.

Seriously…. who the fuck chases without windshield wipers.

Since I woke up this morning I’ve been watching the weather for tomorrow with earnest, eagerness and almost an addictive quality.  The weather for tomorrow looks extra nice, extra special and extra sweet for people like me.  The storm prediction center out it the boondocks of Oklahoma has included us in a moderate risk for severe weather tomorrow.  Whats even better is the brought out the blue hatched shading on the outlook for tomorrow indicating a 60% chance of severe weather which in the SPC’s vocabulary they are saying were going to get hammered, no question.

Then I start looking at the soundings for the area…. which also look extra nice.  By the way you can click any of the images to enlarge them.  Here is the sounding for Lansing, MI.

Lansing, MI Sounding

Notice how in the first 12,000 feet the wind direction makes a nearly 180 degree turn.  This means there is a good chance of supercell development.  The temperatures and dewpoints in this chart look very nice as well.

It seems like tomorrow we could get hit by a MCS/Derecheo in mid AM from the leftovers to the west of us….. then in the afternoon get hammered by our own round of fun.

I’m not going chasing in this storm so I thought I would do a live blog of this event.  Refresh for the latest updatesThe first few thing I recieved was the warning for Cass County

558 WWUS53 KIWX 211938SVSIWX

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENTNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA338 PM EDT FRI MAY 21 2010

MIC027-149-212015-/O.CON.KIWX.SV.W.0021.000000T0000Z-100521T2015Z/ST. JOSEPH MI-CASS MI-338 PM EDT FRI MAY 21 2010

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 415 PM EDTFOR NORTHEASTERN CASS AND NORTHWESTERN ST. JOSEPH COUNTIES INSOUTHWEST MICHIGAN...

AT 333 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TOINDICATE A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS INEXCESS OF 60 MPH. THIS SEVERE STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR THREE RIVERS...AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... MOORE PARK...FISHERS LAKE AND FLOWERFIELD.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH...PREPARE IMMEDIATELY FOR DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...ALONGWITH DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TOA SHELTER...PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROMWINDOWS.

TO REPORT SEVERE WEATHER...CONTACT YOUR NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENTAGENCY. THEY WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICEIN NORTHERN INDIANA.

LAT...LON 4192 8575 4193 8584 4208 8585 4207 8544      4185 8567TIME...MOT...LOC 1936Z 216DEG 22KT 4197 8569WIND...HAIL 60MPH IN

$$

Shortly thereafter I looked for LSR info of the storm.

iwxchat	2010/05/21 3:35 PM	iembot	IWX: White Pigeon [St. Joseph Co, MI] trained spotter reports HAIL of pea size (M0.25 INCH) at 03:34 PM EDT — pea size hail reported at intersection of us131 and us12
iwxchat	2010/05/21 3:30 PM	iembot	IWX: 3 Wnw Elkhart [Elkhart Co, IN] trained spotter reports HAIL of E0.70 INCH at 02:30 PM EDT –
iwxchat	2010/05/21 3:13 PM	iembot	IWX: 1 Nw Elkhart [Elkhart Co, IN] trained spotter reports TSTM WND DMG at 02:35 PM EDT — various size trees down with street flooding up to a half foot deep in spots. time estimated from radar.
iwxchat	2010/05/21 3:00 PM	iembot	IWX: 2 N Elkhart [Elkhart Co, IN] amateur radio reports FLASH FLOOD at 02:55 PM EDT — water up to tire rims in parking lot
iwxchat	2010/05/21 2:33 PM	iembot	IWX: 1 S Osceola [St. Joseph Co, IN] amateur radio reports HAIL of pea size (M0.25 INCH) at 02:25 PM EDT –

4:00 PM: Emergency Management in Three Rivers Reports Large Trees Down

4:17 PM

4:25

520
WWUS83 KGRR 212023
SPSGRR

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
423 PM EDT FRI MAY 21 2010

MIZ064>066-071>073-212115-
ALLEGAN-BARRY-CALHOUN-EATON-KALAMAZOO-VAN BUREN-
423 PM EDT FRI MAY 21 2010

…SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY…

AT 420 PM EDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM OSHTEMO IN KALAMAZOO
COUNTY SOUTHEAST TO NEAR ATHENS IN CALHOUN COUNTY. THE LINE OF
STORMS IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

PEA SIZE HAIL…WINDS UP TO 50 MPH…OCCASIONAL CLOUD TO GROUND
LIGHTNING…BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS…ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS.

THE STORMS WILL BE MOVING THROUGH OSHTEMO…KALAMAZOO…PORTAGE…
SCOTTS…CLIMAX AND EAST LEROY THROUGH 500 PM.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

GUSTY WINDS MAY CAUSE SMALL BRANCHES TO BE BLOWN DOWN…AND LOOSE
OBJECTS TO BLOW AROUND. STAY AWAY FROM HIGH OBJECTS OUTDOORS SUCH AS
TREES. SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE UNTIL THESE STORMS HAVE
PASSED.

&&

LAT…LON 4217 8597 4277 8563 4263 8465 4242 8471
4242 8473 4238 8473 4207 8481 4207 8547
TIME…MOT…LOC 2019Z 205DEG 28KT 4232 8574 4215 8523

$$

DUKE

iwxchat

2010/05/21 4:25 PM

iembot

IWX: Colon [St. Joseph Co, MI] emergency mngr reports TSTM WND DMG at 04:10 PM EDT — barn damage and uprooted trees near long street.

4:30 PM

Video of  A Wall Cloud in Kalamazoo, MI that I encountered.  After contacting the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids a Tornado Warning was promptly issued for this storm.

This video was recorded near the intersection of Drake and West Michigan.