24 Feb 2016 - Eastern NC

24 Feb 2016

Initial Target: Fayetteville, NC
Actual Target: Fayetteville, NC
Starting Point (SP): Murfreesboro, TN 0300 CST 24 Feb
Ending Point (ENDEX): Pinehurst, NC 1905 EST 24 Feb
Storm Intercepts: Stedman, NC
Tornadoes: 0
Hail: Pea Size
Wind: Unknown, like close to or above severe limits
Miles: 712

Summary: First chase of 2016. I was traveling to NC that day anyway to visit my mom for a few days, so I decided to get some chasing in while I was there. I had been watching this system ever since the NAM came into range. Targeted the Fayetteville, NC area. Forecast verified but execution was nearly botched as I spent too much time napping at a truck stop in GA. Still was able to make it north of Fayetteville before realizing I would never catch the storms to my west. Saw another storm mature to my south and doubled back to intercept. Only had 5-10 minutes to observe before the storm raced off to the NE but had a good lowering with great motion. It just didn't quite produce. Called it a chase and drove back to the west to my mom's house.

Crew: No chase partner

Equipment
Vehicle: 2009 Nissan Titan SE 4x4
Camera: Canon Rebel XTi
Other Electronics: Dell Latitude E6430 running Win 10, Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime, Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Map: (Map is somewhat off in the area of the storm intercepts. My changes to my route on google maps did not make it over to the embed tool)


Details:

An early season pattern had set in, with much of Dixie being impacted by severe weather the previous day. I was planning to travel to my mom's on Wednesday, so I decided to go chase while I was on the road. Everything I had seen model wise pointed towards a Fayetteville, NC target, so I decided to travel through Atlanta to get there due to the route being primarily interstate.

I left Murfreesboro, TN around 0300 CST, finally getting through Atlanta somewhere between 0800 and 0900. I continued east on I-20 before pulling off to rest about halfway between Atlanta and Augusta, GA. This nearly cost me as I slept for about 30 minutes longer than I wanted to, and it was nearly 1330. As I neared Columbus, SC, storms started going up and I managed to push east to the I-95 corridor ahead of them. From there I just tried to get north as quickly as I could reasonably do so.

After getting about 20 minutes north of Fayetteville, I realized I would never catch the storms that had impacted areas just west of Fort Bragg, and found a storm just getting to Lumberton. I doubled back for an intercept and waited in Stedman. After sitting at an old neighborhood Walmart parking lot, I realized I was a little closer to the path than I wanted to be, and pushed about a mile farther east. Due to the pine trees, I had to pick and choose where I set up but found a few areas with a decent view. Even then, storm motions were in the 60 kts range, so I only had about 5 solid minutes of view.

From my vantage point at the old Walmart, I could see rotation, but did not have a clear view of the lowering.

Once I moved east, I did not have a good view until it crossed NC-24. From there it was fully in view for longer than I expected, but eventually rain wrapped around and got in the way. Despite the lowering and substantial rotation I observed, I did not see any part of it make contact with the ground. Nor did I observe any signs of damage when I went back through Stedman. I only encountered minor hail, but I did catch a nasty crosswind from the next storm in line as I drove back to the west to head for Mom's.

After this point, I called it a chase, and drove the remaining distance to Mom's. All in all, not a bad chase. Good forecast but definitely could have been better on the execution.

After Action Review:

I made an excellent forecast, and put myself into the right area. I nearly botched the execution when I napped to long, however. That said, it was a good chase, and I came very close to breaking my tornado-less streak. Mother Nature just didn't quite cooperate.

Sustains and Improves:
1. Forecast was spot on. Efforts to improve paid off
2. Don't nap too long. This nearly caused me to miss the entire show.
3. Did a good job evaluating my position and adjusting when I felt it could be too risky. Despite the rapid storm motions, the decision was made early enough that movement was accomplished with plenty of time to spare.