July 19th 2013, the big day!

[WayfaringStranger]

Just a few photos I took earlier today.

[benjaminblizzard]

Light thunderstorm here right now. Lots of lightning, don't hear any thunder though.

[DarkSky]

Originally Posted by SlideShowBob

Quick question DarkSky...was the recent storm part of the 70k top that you posted earlier?

No the shots I posted earlier were from a smaller (yet still massive) 55,000ft storm. The 70k storm that JUST finished was absolutely awe-inspiring. Not as many photos as it occurred at night, but I should have some good time lapse videos of the storm clouds, as well as some night video of all the lightning. LOTS of pics/videos to go through tomorrow. But first thing tomorrow, I'll be driving around shooting more pics/video of any damage.

The power line going to my house which runs to the house across the street, is now sagging low in the air above the street, and has another line coming off it which is hanging down on to my neighbor's driveway.

And the other line on that same neighbor's house, is still laying inside a large maple tree on his lawn, and is arcing and sending hot embers down. It's been doing this for 2hrs now.

More to come in the new day.

[tice23]

What a crazy day!

Finally back home after chasing for almost nine hours with hardly a break. I'll give you the story, then pictures and video later as i upload them I have a lot so it may take a few days.

Here's the short story
Depart midland at 12:45
2-3pm hwy 118 & 35 erie clouds, lots of shear, decide to change position so i don't get cut off by the storm
2-3pm hwy 118 find out i moved too late, get caught in the storm, almost drove under a possible rain wrapped funnel (have to confirm on video) trees down accross hwy, 1 large tree snapped.
2-3pm hwy 11 Gravenhurst. trees snapped, uprooted, road signs snapped, construction cones all over the hwy, 20m wide swath of mature pines snapped off clean at 3m with clear indication of a vortex on surrounding trees, damage may have been caused by multiple tornadic events as damage paths were as much as 500-1000m apart.
4-5pm hwy 89 near cookstown, stunning shelf rolls in over head, storm causes damage in cookstown (i didn't actually see it happen, but i saw the aftermath on the drive home)
5-6pm, caught in down burst by 5th side Rd. and 8th Line, max winds maybe 85km/h sustained for 5 or ten minutes.
5-6pm 5th line and 5th side Rd. trees downed likely from down burst.
5-6pm Schomberg, traffic lights out, extremely heavy rain leaves 2-3cm of water on the roads everywhere, black clouds to my south. incredible cloud to ground lightning.
6-7pm End chase of this cell at Rutherford Rd. decide to head home.
7-8pm drive through cookstown, survey the damage
8-9pm South end of Barrie heading north on hwy 27. New cells forming to my north. a brief chase yields a possible wall cloud near Midhurst. and another possible wall cloud to the east judging by radar, but visual confirmation was not very conclusive. the cloud changed frequently, but didn't seem to have the proper structure so probably scud cloud.
10pm home sweet home

I am very sore...

Also don't be silly like me and chase near gravenhurst. I thought it was a bad idea, but then i did it anyway against better judgement. despite being very exciting, it was not a comfortable or safe chase situation and i doubt i will be trying that direction again because visability is too low and the roads and lakes wind and entrap you.

[Nagii]

between 9-11 we had a second few cells come through, loud thunder and intense lightning. Power struggled to stay on but managed. After an hour break, he comes round 3, loud thunder and lightning, lights flickering.

[tice23]

took this at 12:45 from Midland. This is why i got greedy

[Reffik]

Planes are still taking off at Pearson into an active thunderstorm; more storms following.

[obwan]

some pics of the evening chase. The first is a possible rain wrapped funnel in the storm darksky took the pics of at 6:30. The next two are of the second set of storms coming off lake ontario at charles daley park there was a wall cloud which moved just to the right and these formed in some violent up and down drafts behind it. I moved inland ahead of the rain and was able to catch this 4th shot with my cam as the rain core approached.

[benjaminblizzard]

I honestly cannot believe that relatively strong storms are still juicing up after what already passed through. I guess Mother Nature has a lot in her system!

Edit: FINALLY got footage of lightning striking the CN tower. Still very frequent lightning strikes occurring.

Lightning Strikes CN Tower - July 20th, 2013 - YouTube

Lightning Strikes CN Tower - July 20th, 2013 - YouTube

[obwan]

Quite the rain out of that system, we picked up 110mm of rain between 6:30 pm and 4:00am.

All in all a fun night, only regret is I didn't have the video camera. My wife who usually doesn't come out, videod some with her phone and was impressed with what she saw. I lso have to give her credit for navigating with the electronics.