We didn't stay long, though. Weather, by its very nature, is chaotic, and this particular storm was no exception, unexpectedly taking a turn towards the southeast. Since we wanted to be close to the south end of the gust front associated with this storm (apparently the place to be), we made a mad scramble to pack everything back in the truck, hopped in the front seat and we were off! Our next stop was near Thamesville, where we watched some amazing lightning across the horizon and caught the gust front moving in, but again it turned out that the best place to be for this storm was slipping away from us. Just as the rain began to wash over us, we were back in the truck and making our way further south, heavy rain drops clattering against the truck and our ears popping as we passed through the gust front.
Wow! Beautiful gust front! Near thamesville pic.twitter.com/WDYqBZhHRD
— Mark Robinson (@StormhunterTWN) June 18, 2014Racing south to catch this bowing storm. pic.twitter.com/c9bRyKqwS7
— Mark Robinson (@StormhunterTWN) June 18, 2014Gustnado-type funnels were evident. Did not see any ground swirls. pic.twitter.com/d1fhSNd8Oz
— Mark Robinson (@StormhunterTWN) June 18, 2014
In the end, the storm was just moving too fast for us, so with 'safety first' in mind, we stopped by the side of the road and waited for the worst of the rain to leave us behind.
Even though we missed the best views of the storm, the adventure wasn't quite over yet, though, as we met up with two other storm chasers, David Piano (whom Mark has known for years) and David Robins while making another stop along the 401 near London. Piano and Robins, who drove down from Hamilton specifically to chase this storm, shared their stories of the gust front passing through, and showed us their incredible photos of the clouds, which were far better than anything Mark and I were able to see on our own chase. In a short interview, they revealed that their favourite chase so far was during the July 19, 2013 thunderstorm outbreak in southern Ontario, especially with the storm that hit Olympic Park in Hamilton (check out some footage of the storms here). They also talked about the ice storm that hit southern Ontario just before Christmas, as it was incredible to see it develop, coating everything in a thick layer of ice, and to see the impacts of it - how it turned regions into disaster zones of downed trees and branches. Along with storm chasing as a hobby, Piano, who has been chasing for years now, is currently in the Media Studies program at the University of Guelph - Humber, looking to get into field reporting, and Robins will soon begin his studies in the atmospheric sciences at York University, with plans to become a meteorologist. We'll have to keep an eye on these two for after they graduate.
Overall, even though the inclination to stay away from tornadoes is definitely still with me, I can say after going on my first storm chase that I would definitely be up for the experience again. For anyone else interested in trying out storm chasing for themselves, the best advice to follow is to be safe. Witnessing the storms, and getting images and videos of them, is definitely exciting, but no image or video is worth risking your life over. It's far better to miss the footage but still be alive to give your account of what happened, than for the contents of your camera to be the only record of the last moments of your life.
Not quite as good as I was hoping for, but … massive gust front, June 18th, near Chatham. pic.twitter.com/Uahh2npPWB
— Mark Robinson (@StormhunterTWN) June 23, 2014
