A look back at a year ago today

A year ago today I was doing two important things:  (1) It was my very last week before retiring from work and (2) I was out storm chasing during the biggest April tornado outbreak in U.S. history.

This summary article from the NWS Blacksburg office provides a look back at the incredible scope of the event that produced violent long track tornadoes in areas of the South that don't normally see such things.  Large cities like Tuscaloosa and Birmingham Alabama were devastated by large tornadoes while smaller localities were also struck.

I chased that afternoon in my standard area, finding the first rotating storm near Lake Anna in Louisa county where I sat underneath the rain-free base while the cell gathered strength.  As it moved off to the northeast I trailed it and finally witnessed this multi-vortex funnel looking east along Mine Run Road in Orange county.

As this storm approached the Fredericksburg vicinity with its burgeoning afternoon traffic I pulled off the chase and found another cell approaching from the southwest that showed signs of rotation on radar.  Heading north to the Virginia Route 3 corridor I found a crossover near Chancellorsville battlefield and pulled off the highway, calling in a storm report to the NWS Sterling office, snapping digital stills, and videoing another wall cloud that eventually put down a funnel.

It was an epic tornado outbreak with lots of damage and lives lost...one for the record books and one to hopefully avoid in the future with better warnings and prompt public responses.