severe

On the evening of Friday., May 7th, 2010 I noticed a line of severe thunderstorms on the radar making their way across Ohio via the Lake Erie shoreline. These storms were pumping out a ton of electricity so I decided to go to my favorite spot with a milkshake and try to record some cloud to ground lightning strikes. Not only did I successfully record some great lightning strikes, but I was able to capture the giant shelf cloud that was being pushed in front of the supercell thunderstorm that tracked all the way from NW Ohio to the Cleveland area. This particular storm had a history of producing tornadoes but didn’t do so around the Cleveland area. However, the illuminated shelf cloud was incredible to see. Below is a video of the lightning in action but before you watch that, here are a couple screen captures from the video I recorded.

You can barely make out the shelf cloud to the left hand side

Shelf cloud starting to encroach on downtown Cleveland

My favorite picture clearly illustrating the shelf cloud in action

Very ominous roll cloud moving through downtown

On Saturday May 3rd, 2008, a line of convection moved through my area. After receiving some drenching rains in the morning hours, this gave way to sunny skies as a dry slot had formed. The sun came out in full force, but the temperature didn’t rise that much as it mostly stayed within the mid 50s. However, this sunshine was enough to destabilize the atmosphere just before the actual cold front arrived. A line of quick moving thunderstorms developed on top of the cold front and moved through the area. These storms brought pea sized hail with mild gusty winds. I only witnessed one lightning strike during the entire event which is a shame, since I enjoy watching lightning but enjoy the sound of thunder more. Out of all of the cars that have driven down my street playing their loud thumping rap music, none of their sound systems have been able to compare to the bass that thunder produces. It’s just the beginning of May, but I hope this thunderstorm season is a little more active than last years.

Without further ado, here are some images along with a video of the storms as they were moving through the area.