Ava vs. Outflow

Despite the ability to spend time with Thursday's weather, I opted to sit out on the latest event. Six day work weeks for nearly two months have me somewhat burnt out and I'm ok to pass on a limited color or contrast midday linear event. That being said, I noticed a well defined outflow boundary (a.k.a. OFB) on radar ejecting from ongoing morning storms to the north and heading our way. Identifiable as a thin green line moving away from the general direction of storm movement, this is the signature of an arcus cloud which is typically accompanied by brief, gusty winds but otherwise generally harmless. Heading up the street for a better look, Ava rode along and though unconcerned as usual for the most part, she ran around trying to catch blowing leaves once the winds picked up so as to "save them".



Don't know what her fixation was but for a candid I'll take it.


Facing W, these are all edited phone pics.


Radar grab c/o Radarscope showing the OFB just after it had passed our location at Decatur.


Falling asleep for a bit after having been up all night only to later be awakened by thunder, a customary peek at radar showed another OFB heading our way. With respect to the first picture which garnered considerable support elsewhere, I decided to have a little fun with Ava who was all for the idea :)




The arcus cloud would wash out for coming into more stable air that was turned over by the previous OFB but we still had fun. New storms would soon develop to the W and dump moderate rainfall at home where I simply enjoyed from the porch. Cells in Christian county to the south would later intensify and begin to show signs of damaging straight line wind potential per velocity. Moving into Shelby county they would ramp up significantly to earn an eventual tornado warning. It is worth noting that what Ava and I experienced had nothing to do with the dangerous activity occurring and was merely a non-threatening byproduct of a distant dying thunderstorm complex.


Screen captures fascinate me and especially when people are involved. The lead dot near the strongest return is the Spotter Network icon of Brad Emel who documented the worst of the storm as seen in his incredible VIDEO.