2017 Storm Chase Day 4 - 6/29/17 - Softball-sized hailer!

Two apologies: This blog is a day late because I slept in yesterday. Sue me. :-). Also, I'm going back on my word to dye my hair if we say tornadoes, like we did on Wednesday. This is because I really stole the idea from someone else we were chasing with, and out of respect for him, I withdrew my promise. Perhaps I'll shave my head, but that's not much different from what I have now.

What a hailer! We chased a tornado-warned supercell from beginning to end. At it's peak, it was generating softball-sized hail!

Here's my best photo of the updraft:

Here's my best photo of the hail. No, I didn't get a photo of a hailstone, but instead here's a picture of the hail core:

The green tint is not a flaw (or photoshop, none of my pics, unless I specifically state so, are photoshopped), but is actual softball-sized hail in the core of the storm.

Both of these photos were taken at the same vantage point. While we were there, a motorist stopped and asked me what was going on. I told her a tornado might form in the valley, and softball-sized hail was coming. She pointed out her house down the hill into the valley, and I told her to go home and shelter there. Although we didn't think a tornado would develop (it didn't), we thought soon the area would be pummeled with hail.

After she leaves, our nineteen-year-old boy (the one who had dyed his hair after seeing a tornado before, the one whose idea I didn't want to steal) turns to me and says, for everyone, including my wife, Heidi, to hear, "She was hot!"

Honestly, I hadn't noticed one way or the other. But now I'm thinking I'll get some grief from Heidi, but she had seen the whole thing, so she knew I didn't find her hot (and yes, she knows, but I'm clueless). Whew. She reminded me that she knows when I talk to a woman I'm attracted to (it's so obvious to her, but, oddly, not so much to me).

[[[UPDATE:

Back at the hotel, we were hit with a hailstorm. We found hailstones a little larger than quarter-sized. We also had a mild lightning show. Here's a pic taken from my iPhone using LightningCam 2:

]]]

Here is a GPS track of the day. There was a lot of driving that day.

Friday's target was Oklahoma. I *hate* chasing in Oklahoma. Honestly, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have bothered, but I'm glad we did, nonetheless. More on that in my next blog.