10 April 2011 And the creek rose

10 April 2011 And the creek rose - Or there, on the radar, heading right at us!


As is to be expected. We logged 2.25 inches of rain falling in nearly exactly 90 minutes. We had four separate, distinct periods of hail with the hailstones measuring from dime to golf-ball size. That becomes even more impressive when the metal roof is factored in. It became rather noisy.

Just before the rain and hail arrived, there were official (US Weather Service) reports of a tornado or perhaps more than one within three miles of us, headed in our direction. Because of our valley location, we would have almost no visual warning in the time it might take a tornado moving at 45-60 MPH to travel from the reported location to our certain position. I was counting seconds, calculating travel times and vectors, hoping that I was overly concerned.

The most foolish thing one can do during such a storm is to leave shelter and go outside. However, the need for visual and auditory input is great. I saw nothing, not even rotation in the clouds overhead. There was nearly constant lightning, a marker for tornadic storms. In the intervals between thunder peals I heard a constant rumbling, hissing, noise that was most likely a funnel passing overhead to our north.

The rain began with the cold gust front arriving. A burst of cold, wet air, luckily slowed and buffered by distance and terrain announced the arrival of a solid wall of rain falling directly downward. At the peak rainfall, the rate of accumulation was measured at 6.92 inches/hour. That intensity exceeds anything I can recall in either hurricanes or monsoons rains. That’s when the hail began, following exactly where expected in a super cell thunderstorm. Each new storm in the train announced itself in roughly the same pattern.

There are multiple reports of building damage in all direction. The VA hospital/cemetery complex lost many huge old trees. Various homes, barns, and outbuildings have been damaged. Some car damage is reported. Gloria found one dent on the hood of her Tucson. . The creek rose almost immediately and has been brimful since before nightfall

I watched that line of storms approach on radar. As the reports of hail, rain, wind, and tornado warnings began to encompass our area a small backward bend began to develop at the southern tail of the line. At first, it looked as if that bend would keep the major weather just to our north. But the whole line sagged a bit farther south and a line of flanking storms developed, feeding into the bottom cell in the line. Over the next two hours this flanking line grew in size and intensity, becoming a self-sustaining multiple cell storm that entrained still more flanking storms that all seemed to reach maximum intensity just between Tusculum and us. As each multi-cell storm grew, the radar screens reported its change from just a thunderstorm into a meso-cyclone rotating storm. Then the TVS (tornado vortex signatures) began popping up in a probable track that brought each one close enough to us to merit worry.

I’m glad Gloria talked me into driving to Kingsport for the storm spotter class. I learned some new material, remembered some older material, and had a better idea of what might be happening around us yesterday.

Fortunately, during all this wind and weather, we suffered no personal or property damage. We had no power outages. The sun set in partly cloudy skies and rose the same way this morning. The background rumble of boulders moving downstream in the current and the residual high and fast water running down valley is pleasant to hear.