June 10, 2009 Spotting

After not chasing on June 9, an impromptu spotting yesterday afternoon (this was a year to the date I found the spot). Convection was south of of SCE most of the day, but around 5 I noticed an interested cell pulsing just SW of SCE. So I headed out to my spot. Just some moderate rain...nothing much. Although, the most exciting thing was probably the formation of fog after this rain passed through to my north (air was cooled to dewpoint because of rain/evaporative cooling) A few pics...

Cyclist trying to beat the storm

What is that just below the horizon? Is it fog?

Yes, it is fog. Pretty sweet.

Severe T'Storm Watch east of SCE

A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued east of SCE, in the better CAPE environment. The cold front has passed here, it appears as dewpoint and temperature have fallen a few degrees

6/9 Discussion

A few storms have fired in SW PA south of Pittsburgh south and along the I76 corridor. SPC 15z mesoanalysis has a solid 2000J/kg of CAPE along and east of a N-S line intersecting State College. (SCE) A band of 2500J/kg are also located just east of here. Shear is fairly unidirectional, but 500mb shear is around 30kts.

More storms are forming south of of SCE, but they are fairly widely-scattered.

Storm Spotting 6/9

A mesoscale discussion was issued about 20 minutes ago that central Pennsylvania will be upgraded to a slight risk in about 20 minutes. While I don't want to chase anything after the mid-May utter failure, I may go out to my favorite spot to take some pictures and see what moves through. 12z WRF wasn't impressive, but I haven't looked at the PSU WRF, which is usually more exciting (although not necessarily more realistic)

Cold front is currently in NW PA. It feels quite warm even though it is just 78 at noon. The dewpoints are in the upper 60s, which is equivalent to where the VORTEX2 folks are at today (currently watching to the live stream). However, are shear is not favorable for tornadoes.

This is somewhat similar to yesterday as it was warm in the morning and then thunderstorms developing in the late afternoon. Saw a few good lightning strikes northwest of campus around 5PM.