Vacation/Storm Chasing in USA

[WeatherArc]

Hey guys, back from 2 weeks in the US visiting family in both Florida and Michigan. While there i was able to see some of the best convection and storms i've genuinely ever seen (photo dump incoming )

I decided to delete the previous post and put this in a new topic so I didnt clog up any actual discussions/feeds. 

July 20th featured an enhanced risk in Michigan, Due to bad positioning i was unable to get many pictures of the large MCS that developed producing 80 mph winds, QLCS tornadoes and quarter sized hail.

However, I was able to get some shots of the storms anvils as they passed me to the North-West. 

Florida was much more fruitful in storm terms, delivering daily thunderstorms, heat indexes above 40°C and 23°C+ dewpoints  

SBCAPE was regularly in the 3000-4000 range with it reaching 5500 at one point, additionally it never went below 1000 j/kg during any of the days or nights i was there. 

While in South Florida near the town of Homestead I believe I was able to chase my first ever US Supercell, i'm still 50/50 if it was however radar presentation showed the storm deviating from the North West path of other storms and it began to move directly to the East. Additionally velocities showed the storm had some weak rotation in the mid levels. It was also the most electrically active storm i've ever experienced, multiple CGs in rapid succession with thunder becoming a constant, never ending low rumble in the background.

I'm not sure if anyone experienced with supercell structure can help but it did have a substantial lowering on it for a good 30 mins with rising scud in the inflow region. No sign of anything tornadic but the storm did go severe warned for 30 mins. 

As the storm moved slowly off to the North East its Anvil was caught in one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen.

 

 

I still can't believe i experienced this, just stunning. This happened everyday I was there as the sun set behind anvils of the daily thunderstorms. 

This was followed by around an hour of lightning as the storm slowly died and faded to the East, however tropical thunderstorms then rapidly developed off the south coast of the Florida Keys. With water temperatures between 31-38°C and Nightime temps never dipping below 34°C  these storms were very electrically active. I will try to trim some videos of the light show and post some on here.

The flight back home was pretty convective as well.

Overall, an amazing trip that i'm already missing, will hopefully be able to go back soon.

Hope you guys like the photos, not sure what to do about some of the weirdly cropped ones but oh well, I'll try to post some videos of those night storms if the jetlag hasn't killed me  

[Nick L]

Once you've experienced proper storms in the US, anything the UK offers just does not cut it!

[Alex Thompson]

I would like to visit Florida to see the thunderstorms absolutely, looks amazing. I talk to a few friends in the states though none in Florida specifically.

[snowrye]

19 minutes ago, Alex Thompson said:

I would like to visit Florida to see the thunderstorms absolutely, looks amazing. I talk to a few friends in the states though none in Florida specifically.

Been to florida twice, seen plenty of storms over there, once, when I was staying at Disney, we had a severe thunderstorm warning, never seen, or heard anything like it, I was outside, undercover, the rain was biblical, the lightning was like something I'd never seen, and the thunder, constant booms like cannons. Fantastic, then on the 2nd trip, we were at universal, when another severe thunderstorm hit, that was daytime, the structure was amazing, witnessed a beautiful rfd, but sadly no tornado. 

[WeatherArc]

1 hour ago, Alex Thompson said:

I would like to visit Florida to see the thunderstorms absolutely, looks amazing. I talk to a few friends in the states though none in Florida specifically.

It was amazing, pretty much at 3pm everyday explosive thunderstorms would roll in, i would love to upload some of the videos i got from my time there however for some reason it wont convert the files.