August 5, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm   

 

    The Shenandoah Valley was placed under a risk of weak Thunderstorms while just across the Appalachian Mountains and towards the DC/Baltimore metro areas the Storm Prediction Center had place this region under a slight risk of severe thunderstorms, mostly for hail and high winds.. All of this was issue first thing that morning (Aug. 5, 20003).  I took notice around 1:30pm that a storm tower with a well defined flanking line had started to developed Southwest of me.  I did not think that much of it since usually these storms build over on the West side of the mountains (which are relatively small so the storms make it over without to much trouble) then travel East and explode around DC.  Never the less I watched it as the flanking line was the strongest on I had ever seen.  As the storm built I notice that the anvil had become very crisp and a rain formed on the Northern side.  This is when I started to realize this thing was going to explode right here for once!  The storm slowly started to move my way (east).  Around 4:00 pm a wall cloud started to develop but it move behind the tree line and out of my field of view.  By the time the storm had move in my direction the wall cloud was gone and I thought maybe the storm was not going to be as big as I thought.  But roughly 15 minutes later a second wall cloud dropped a quickly developed and this one was right in front of me.  It continued to get bigger until it was aprox. 1 to 2 miles in length.  I was so caught up in the moment I almost forgot about calling in the storm to the NWS (I am a skywarn spotter).  About the time I went in to get the phone a Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued.  The storm then started to put on a fabulous light show and a rain/hail core developed just to the north of the wall.  The storm moved on East, but not until hammering the area with estimated 65 MPH wind gusts and quarter sized hail.  I later learned from NWS while calling in the hail that a few other spotters just South of me reported rotation in the first wall cloud.  Of course it was my luck that the wall went behind the tree line and I did not get to see it.  Overall it turned out to be a pretty good storm.  As always this event occurred about 5 miles South of Elkton, Virginia in Rockingham County.

 

If anybody has any pictures of this storm that I could post I would greatly appreciate it and credit would be given to you.  Please send picture in an attachment.

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