Strong Gustnado

I filmed a strong gustnado (at the very least) earlier today. This could even be a possible tornado. You can clearly see a coned shaped cloud form above the debris cloud just before dirt shoots up in a snake shape. The wind was extremely strong. I got dirt in my teeth and the wind pushed me up against my car and slammed the car door in to my body. I'm OK but there was at least four accidents associated with this storm that I saw on my way back through Columbus.

Hail Storm

Quick Severe Thunderstorm

This storm struck faster than I could find my camera. I did not feel like getting wet so I filmed from our terrace.

Incredible Lightning

I had the window of my car rolled up for the majority of this storm because lightning was striking so close and so frequently. Some of the closer strikes hurt my eyes and one actually set the car alarm in the car behind me off.

Lightning Producers

After a few storms that did not produce much lightning at all, these storms started popping up. We finally got to chase one during our ride home that night. We chased it from one side of Columbus to the other. We never really caught up to it (we were in a big industrial van), but it was still a fun trip.

Storms Rolling In

Again, this storm was not a great lightning producer, but it did knock out power to the traffic light down the road from us and caused minor flooding on our street.

Nighttime Downpour

There wasn't much lightning during this storm, but the rain was intense. It was kind of like a mini tsunami.

Random Lightning

I filmed this random lightning footage back in June.



Not much lightning was happening at the time, but I managed to get a few good shots.

Massive Wall Of Clouds

This front moved in right after a severe thunderstorm. It was incredible! I will be uploading video from the severe thunderstorm at a later time. Until then, enjoy this massive wall of clouds.

Strong Winds And Heavy Rain

The first half of this video was filmed during the Wood County tornado which killed 7. I did not originally want to upload it since I would feel sick for capitalizing on such a disaster. Even though I was not in Wood county, I feel that it is important to note that the winds from the storm system that caused the tornado were extraordinary across much of the state. I have never seen wind flatten one whole side of a sturdy tree like that or switch directions so rapidly.

Severe Thunderstorm

This is another storm that snuck up on me. By the time I realized that it was coming, it was nearly over top of us. I didn't have to travel down the road for this one. It came to us. The lightning got a little too close for comfort. One bolt struck just over my car.



Disclaimer: It's probably not a good idea to leave your window rolled down during a thunderstorm. Lightning can make it's way in to the car. However, wet windows make it hard to film anything and lightning was more likely to hit the car's antenna and I did roll up when it was striking directly over top of me. If you don't understand and respect the risks involved or feel uneasy about being struck by lightning, don't do it! You run just as much of a risk of being struck out in the open as you do with your window rolled down.

Here is the radar image of this storm.

Lightning Strike Destroys "Big Butter Jesus"

The statue that inspired a song by Heywood Banks has been destroyed by a lightning strike.



Full story on Jalopnik.

Tornado Warning + Hail

This storm marks the first time that I've filmed hail. This storm totally snuck up up on me. I had no idea that it was coming until the lights started to flicker in our apartment. I have never seen so much cloud clutter before. The clouds turned green and started rotating. A minute or so later, a tornado warning was issued and the storm started to dump hail on my vehicle. I got hit by one of those hail stones and it gave me a little scratch on my hand.



Here are some images that rockystop123 took further in to the storm. He had to pull over because it was raining so hard.

And here is the radar image taken at the time of the storm.

The storm was topped off by a beautiful rainbow afterward. "Tornado sirens" briefly trended on twitter when they where going off. I guess that's to be expected in a heavily populated area. When I got back to our apartment, I was ready to edit video but the power went out for 8 hours so I had to get busy protecting perishable the food that I had just bought that day. I was able to get some work done on my netbook via a car adapter and Wi-Fi at a local McDonald's.

Nighttime Thunderstorm With Heavy Rain

I shot this video on the night that I shot the last one. This storm was not as violent as the one I chased in to Delaware county, but all of the storms that night had extremely heavy rain fall which can be seen at the end of this video.

Storm Chase In Delaware County Ohio

As was posted earlier, there was a tornado watch yesterday evening through last night. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Delaware county, so I decided to jump on it. I spotted a wall cloud and a potential funnel cloud/missed tornado while I was out there. It was dark and there were a ton of scud. However, a still image that I extracted from the part of the video where I exclaimed "funnel cloud" revealed that my eyes may not have been deceiving me. Click on the image belowe to take a better look.

Either way, this was a monster storm, and since it was night I kept plenty of distance from the worst parts of it. There was huge cloud to ground lightning.

Tornado Watch

There is currently a tornado watch for most of Ohio. There was a tornado warning in Henry county earlier.

While it was too far for me to travel to, Reed Timmer and his TornadoVideos.net team was there. If they happen to upload a video, I'll be sure to post it.

Edit 1: The same cell just went tornado warned again. The storm is currently in Wood county and heading for Sandusky county.

Edit 2: A tornado warning was just issued for northern Hardin county. This storm is moving toward Wyandot county and Upper Sandusky.

Severe Wx Symposium / Possible Thunderstorms

The Ohio Severe Wx Symposium is taking place at OSU today. Mike Bettes from The Weather Channel is speaking there now! I wish I could have attended. Meanwhile, there is a strong chance of severe thunderstorms in the area. Stay tuned!

Very Close Tornado

I was searching through YouTube videos when I came across this.



This is a prime example of what not to do when a tornado is approaching you (I'm shocked that the glass that this person was behind didn't shatter and send shards through their body like a buck shot) but WOW!

New Weather Fan Store!

Are you a Weather Fan? You can now support Weather Fan by purchasing products from the new Weather Fan store!

First Severe Thunderstorm Of The Season

Last night I filmed the first severe thunderstorm of the season in Columbus, Ohio. This thunderstorm had a tornadic vortex signature at one point.



As you can see, there was a distinctive hook at the time that this radar image was scanned. If the way the wind shifted was any indication, this storm was definitely rotating by the time it reached us. However, there was no tornado warning.



By the time the back end of the storm had passed over me, I found myself having to wipe rain water off the camera lens as the wind had shifted at an angle that was soaking the interior of my car.



All in all, it was a great start to the season. I just wish I could have found my HD camera in time for the lightning show. However, it's good to have something to work up to.