Alberta Storm Chasing

Though the dewpoints have struggled to get above zero all week there still were some isolated thundershowers that managed to get enough energy to drop some moisture. Most of the action (as usual) has been in Nordegg, Rocky Mountain House and Drayton Valley. Some other larger storms have been firing up even further north near Grande Prairie and Whitecourt, but for the south its been pretty much warm and dry.

These shots are from the storm that managed to develop west of the city as it travelled from the mountains over the foothills. At about 6:00 pm we were at the local Wal-Mart and saw the storm approaching from the west and we're even treated to a couple of CG strikes. As we headed west on 32nd Ave NE, the wind picked up around the Deerfoot Trail over pass. With all the dry conditions the sand and dust was blowing everywhere lowering the visability quite a bit. By the time we got home the storm was just about overhead and we could hear some thunder in the distance. At about 6:30 pm it started to rain, but wasn't coming down to hard. Soon afterward it really started to pour and water was flowing down the curbs at a good rate. I have now way off knowing how much rain we got but I estimate a good 10-15 mm.

This storm only topped out at about 20,000 ft. while the storms in the north have been more in the low 30,000ft range. We're all still waiting for the season to start and to see our first Watches & Warnings of the year to go up. Looks like the rest of the week we'll see TD's struggling to get above zero and the chances of thunderstorms aren't looking good.

Well it looks as though we are in for some spring weather for the next week. Temperatures look to be in the high teens to low 20's for the next seven days with the exception of Sunday which looks to be cloudy/rainy with a high of 16 C. The days have been warmer but the nights are still quite cold. For the past three nights EC has issued Frost Warnings for most of Southern Alberta. We have even seen some records broken in SC Alberta. Below are a list of lastnights record lows:

Friday 22 May 2009.

Summary of severe weather events and forecasts from 8.00 AM MDT

Wednesday to 8.00 AM MDT Thursday.

A cold airmass remained over Alberta this morning bringing record

Low temperatures.

Unofficial records are as follows:

Location new record min old record min year of prev record

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Coronation -7.4 ------ -2.3 2001

Drumheller -2.3 ------ -1.7 1959

Edmonton intl arpt -6.1 ------ -3.1 1992

Ft McMurray arpt -5.2 ------ -4.4 1949

High Level arpt -3.9 ------- -3.0 2002

Red Deer arpt -5.3 ------- -3.9 1911

Slave Lake arpt -3.8 ------ -2.9 1992

Location tied record min year of prev record

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Lloydminster -4.0 1992

Now this year our spring has been quite uneventful with only a few cracks of thunder here and there. The last week of May last year saw a few thunderstorms roll through Calgary, so hopefully we'll see some action this week. Most of the real action should start in June and hopefully we'll see Alberta's first Watch or Warning go up early next month. I did find some interesting findings when I looked a GFS today which looks promising for some thunder for Sunday. Below are 1) CAPE for Sunday and 2) the precipitaion chart.

                                                       1)                            2)

So hopefully we'll see some flashes and hear some rumbles. I wil likely go chasing this day just for the plan fact that I am very excited for the season to start and I don't care if they end up being rain showers! No storms in Canada and none for a week in the States is taking its toll on me. I need a fix of some sorts!!!!!

Well I have noticed I hadn't written in sometime here and that is due to the unexciting weather we have been having lately.  We have had some nice weather and last week we were in the low 20's C a few times. We've also had some thundershowers roll through giving a rumble of thunder or  two but nothing to exciting.  The grass is green and growing well, the buds on the trees are open and leafing out and I see some of the sunflowers that have fallen from the birdfeeder are sprouting and a few inches high.

Calgary hasn't been getting much for weather, but that isn't the case north of the city. A band of snow developed around the Red Deer area on Sunday night and stuck around most of Monday too. EC issued some snowfall warnings yesterday as reports came in of 20-40 cm in and around Red Deer. We didn't get much for flakes although a few times it looked as though there were small flakes melting on the windshield of the car. It was just more of a drizzly, dull day.

I don't see to much excitiment in the next week but the weekend might bring some more thunder to the area. The temperature is on its way up for the week so some heat should bring most of the leaves out by the weekend.

I do need it to dry up abit so I can get back to work. It's been a long winter and the spring hasn't been much better. I think we could all go for some consistent warmth and a few nasty thunder-bangers!!!!

Now that the snow of April has passed we have finally gotten into some warm weather. The days are getting longer and the temperature is moving ever so close to the 20 C range. With that, it has also brought some instablility to the region and thunderstorms have rolled throughout the province. Nothing that need a Watch or a Warning but some good rain with some hail mixed in. On Tuesday the 5th, we had some rain moved in from the north and you could even see some of the small hail mixed within. The EC lightning detector picked up some flashes with this storm but I saw nothing and heared nothing as it passed through. Most of the thunderstorm action seems to be keeping east and northeast of the city were dewpoints have been higher. Most days this week  in Calgary have low dewpoints and very high

based CB with a ton of virga. 

Today we have had rain for most of the morning which will help these leaves to bloom. The grass is green and I even mowed the lawn lastnight!  This afternoon will dring some more thunderstorms into the area and I see at the last look of the radar that there seems to be some firing up E/SE of Red Deer and are moving south. Tomorrow will bring some more storms in the afternoon as the disturbance moves east toward Saskatchewan.

No chance of chasing this week as the funds are getting thin. Next week if we get some storms I'll be making my way out to hunt!