| The Best of Storm Season 2007 (c) FloridaLightning.com |
| February 12th - A strong, rotating thunderstorm with supercellular characteristics prompted a rare tornado warning for the upper Florida Keys. Insane amount of lightning occurred with this storm during the time it was tornado warned. I shot some nice video from underneath a nearby bridge that provided a clear view and a partial cover, at least from all the heavy rain. Video (click here) from this event reveals amazing motions at the base of this storm and a short lived but persistent funnel/tornado/waterspout. It is very hard to judge with the amount of rain obscuring the base of the storm. |
| Feb 28th - There has been quite an active weather pattern over south Florida and the Keys for the past few days. This early morning a potent line of thunderstorms fired just south of Key West and displayed an unprecedented lightning show with nearly continuous lightning activity for several hours, cloud tops reaching about 50.000 feet and cloud top temperatures of - 68F. I tracked the storms all night but abundance of haze / bad visibility coupled with distance of the thunderstorms provided no real opportunity for good lightning photography. Nevertheless, what a great lightning event to watch. With March already in progress and pattern slowly changing only for better I sure hope the lightning activity will be on increase quite soon. April has always been great when it comes to lightning and spectacular thunderstorms. We are almost there. |
| March 15th & 16th - A great two day lightning chase. Would call it "Inside of Thunderstorm" - got some great close up shots of an lightning active updraft tower of a mature thunderstorm. |
| April 10-12 - The second week of April certainly did not disappoint, just like a year ago widespread thunderstorms affected south Florida and the Keys bringing severe weather along - small hail, gusty winds and in some cases nearly continuous lightning. I spent two days chasing around south Florida. Click above for a complete account. |
| All Text & Images (c) 2007 FloridaLightning.com |
| April 20th - I decided to go ahead and fly out to Oklahoma this weekend. The setup is quite favorable on Saturday and also early next week so I will stay in the area till Thursday. I'll bring you daily updates concerning this potentially significant severe weather episode here over the weekend and the upcoming week. |
| April 23rd - A great day of storm chasing in SW Kansas. Filmed several tornadoes, including a large one ( above) crossing the road several hundred yards ahead of me, near Protection, KS. |
| April 24th - Another tornado today, in central Kansas for change. Great looking supercell with an amazing structure just before sunset. Quite a close encounter again. Click on above photo for a video (13.8 MB) |
Space Shuttle Endeavour - successful launch from Cape Canaveral, FL - Aug 8th, 2007
| Severe Thunderstorm near Fort Lauderdale, FL on July 23rd, 2007. |
| May 3rd - I decided to make another trip to the Plains for yet another round of severe weather. Decent potential exists for large hail and tornadoes, especially between May 4th and 7th. Will bring all updates here again as the weekend trip progresses forward. |
| May 4th - A single supercell unleashed it's fury in south central Kansas. I tracked this storm from just south of Protection, KS till 3am when I called the chase off due to weakening of this long lived supercell. Unfortunately it managed to produce many damaging tornadoes along it's path. A very eerie evening in south central and central Kansas tonight as most of the action unfolded well after dark. Click on the above photo for video (28MB) of the very beginnings of this monster supercell (shot just south of Protection, KS). |
| May 5th - Filmed a couple of cone tornadoes today. High risk turned out to be a day of messy weather. Storms were widespread across Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota. This was a second day of severe weather following last night's outbreak. Today the supercells tracked pretty much over the same areas where they produced incredible damage last night. Hopefully tomorrow the area can finally take some rest from this ongoing severe weather episode. I'll be chasing again tomorrow. Click here for Greensburg, KS damage photo Click here for Greensburg, KS Wedge Tornado Photo Click here for Greensburg, KS Supercell Photo |
| May 12th - Filmed a nice afternoon waterspout in the Lower Keys. |
| May 17th - A lightning fest happened tonight. An outflow boundary moved south from the Everglades and triggered some vivid storms just before midnight. A short lived, intense thunderstorm produced multiple strong lightning bolts including several positively charged lightning strikes. Hopefully we are fully in wet season here in the Florida Keys. Time for some large waterspouts. |
| May 23rd - My today's chase vehicle got all beat up by golf ball sized hail in Oklahoma panhandle. Later this evening I photographed a very nice looking supercell in Texas panhandle. I was also able to film a short lived distant tornado associated with this storm. Our annual chase tour to this great land is planned to start on June 4th and should last till June 17th, 2007. |
| June 1st, 2007 - The official first day of the Atlantic hurricane season and we had a Tropical Storm Barry form today already. Barry is quite close and already impacting my home islands. As of 11pm EDT it is located about 195 mile west of Key West, FL. We already had a waterspout this morning in the Lower Keys that made a landfall as a tornado producing some damage to the roof of a house. This evening there was another waterspout induced tornado warning for the Upper Keys. And as I am writing this we have a tornado warning for Middle Keys and the city of Marathon, FL about 30 miles to my south. It is going to be a busy night. Unfortunately there has been no lightning with these fast moving cells so far. That would help a lot in observing these night time waterspouts. I guess I am going to have to wait for daylight to be able to go out and try to intercept a couple of good looking cells associated with Tropical storm Barry. Wow. Florida needed rain so bad due to extreme drought conditions and help is on the way. I'll be updating this page quite frequently now as the hurricane season is here. We are also still planning our annual tornado alley trip to begin on Monday depending on local conditions and the overall setup in Midwest. For more information on Tropical storm Barry please follow this link to National Hurricane Center. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml?#BARRY |
| June 2nd - A former Tropical storm Barry is only a depression Barry now... we've had tropical storm force winds here for the duration of the night here in the Florida Keys and even several reports of tropical storms force winds in the Lower Keys early this morning. By mid afternoon there are still a few weak looking bands quickly moving through the Upper Keys. Heavy rain in places and some gusty winds is all we are getting now. Seems like the threat for tornadoes and tropical storm associated waterspouts is over. Will watch the skies for the rest of the afternoon and then my attention will turn toward the Midwest and tornadoes. |
| Severe Thunderstorm - August 6th - Severe thunderstorm over Key Largo and waters of Florida Bay. Frequent lightning, damaging winds and small hail occurred with this thunderstorm. |
| June 6th - Supercell south of Badlands, N.P. in South Dakota today. Incredibly picturesque storm although very much outflow dominant. This supercell quickly gusted out and died as soon as it approached I-90 near Murdo, SD. What a nice initial chase of our annual trip. SPC has a High risk for much of Wisconsin tomorrow but we are heading down to Oklahoma City instead. |
| June 11th - South Dakota Severe Thunderstorm |
| July 4th - A great number of waterspouts occurred along the Florida Keys during June of 2007. I happened to miss most of them. Majority of the waterspouts formed in the Lower Keys. Fortunately the best time for waterspouts is still ahead of us - during July, especially August and also during September. I'll be ready and even taking some time off from work to be able to film these wonders in high definition. Beginning of July brought lots of heat and humidity to the Keys. Strong storms and vivid lightning displays have been happening almost daily. Very exciting times in the upcoming couple of months ahead of us with plenty to report and put on these pages. We are coming into the prime lightning season here in south Florida and Florida Keys. Hurricanes are also going to be increasingly likely in the weeks to come... I can not wait ! |
| June 30th - Florida Keys developing cloud line - photo taken an hour after midnight over waters of the Atlantic ocean. |
| July 15th - Strong sunset thunderstorm west of Marathon, FL. More photos coming here soon... |
| July 16th - One of the best lightning events so far this year. Strong thunderstorms fired just east of the Upper Keys tonight. Complete gallery coming soon... |
| July 18th - A night of giant lightning bolts... lightning intense thunderstorms keep moving over the Upper Keys early this morning. Days and nights of vivid lightning storms continue.... |
| July 27th - Captured a video of a classic Lower Florida Keys waterspout. This ten minute waterspout was quite small and rope like but fully mature with a spray ring. It developed under a lightning active thunderstorm in the Lower Keys just after 1pm. Hope to see more tomorrow. Click on the above image for a short low-res video of the waterspout ( 19MB ). |
| Florida Keys Waterspout near Islamorada, FL - Aug 14th, 2007 |
| August 13th - A great trip by boat to Dry Tortugas National Park. It was a day of great snorkeling, sun and interesting marine weather including several funnel clouds. This was my second trip to the Fort Jefferson and for sure not the last one. Click on the above image for Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson highlight video. ( It is a large file - 82 MB ). |
| Long lived Waterspout near Tavernier, FL - Aug 15th, 2007 Full account & video coming here soon... |
| August 25th - Filmed a large waterspout just north of Marathon, FL and another fully mature, long lasting waterspout just minutes later over the ocean south of the Seven Mile Bridge. Click above for complete account. |
| August 26th - Waterspout formed just south of Upper Matecumbe Key at 8am. It traveled north to reach the island minutes later. I was in my car on the highway when the waterspout moved right above me and dissipated quickly. |
| Sept 4th - A beautiful early morning waterspout just south of Lower Matecumbe Key. This waterspout was already present and fully mature at 640am and dissipated at about 655am. A picture perfect morning with lots of thunder in the area, too. Jim Leonard filmed this waterspout from a beach near his place - a far better and closer vantage point. |
| Sept 4th - What a great day it turned out to be. On top of the morning waterspout Islamorada got treated to a great lightning show tonight. Numerous huge lightning bolts finally made this season lightning worthy. Been waiting for quite some time for an event like this. |
| Mature waterspout forms near No Name Key, FL during early morning hours. An amazing spray ring with this one. |
| September 8th - Lightning active evening brought an amazing thunderstorm on the ocean side during sunset hours. Later at night lightning activity was also increasing over and near Miami and the Upper Keys. Some storms even became severe later at night over the Everglades. |
| September 11th - Relaxing and enjoying the last of warm days. Today I was kayaking the beautiful flats just north of the Lower Keys, hoping for a waterspout to happen. |
| September 13th - Unbelievable how fast these lightning bolts were coming out of the top of a single cell storm just south of Islamorada, FL. |
| September 20th - Multiple waterspouts developed along a cloud line some 20 miles NW of Islamorada, FL. One of the waterspouts was quite persistent and lasted for about thirty minutes, taking on all different kinds of shapes and sizes. |
| Intra-cloud lightning over the ocean with bright planet Venus visible on September 30th, 2007. Planet Saturn is also present, the second brightest object below to the left of planet Venus. |
| Stormy morning over the historic Indian Key in Islamorada, FL on September 24th, 2007 |
| Space Shuttle Discovery Launch - Mission STS-120 |
| Lightning strike on the morning of October 7th, 2007 near Islamorada, FL. This year has been very bad for lightning |
| Islamorada, FL during winter season of 2007 |