Storm chaser recalls his night in Petrolia
'I love the adrenaline rush of seeing the best nature has to offer'
Wednesday night's wild weather was one of the best storm tracking nights storm chaser David Piano can recall.
Storms that cut through southwestern Ontario Wednesday afternoon and evening led to power outages and downed tree limbs in their wake.
According to Environment Canada, there may have been a tornado in the Sarnia-Lambton area, specifically, just southeast of Petrolia.
Piano said he was tracking a supercell that passed just to the south of Sarnia.
"We followed that east, I'd say for about 20, 30 kilometres or so, stopping several times to check out how it was progressing and that storm had crazy structure," said Piano.
He compared it to something one could see down in the Great Plains of the United States. He explained that there was danger from lightning strikes, as they were cloud to ground, and it was raining heavily.
Now certain about tornado earlier...upon photo review it appears condensation tube was pivoting around parent meso and briefly made ground contact! First photo I was able to fire off after jumping out...debris column more defined at this point too. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/onstorm?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#onstorm</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ECCCWeatherON?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ECCCWeatherON</a> <a href="https://t.co/GRQxKisyJs">pic.twitter.com/GRQxKisyJs</a>
—@ONwxchaser"Every couple of seconds there's a strike just basically coming down all around me that it was really quite something. Non-stop thunder," he said.
That wasn't the storm that produced the possible tornado, he explained, but another storm.
"So I believe that there are some interactions between the two cells that ended up producing the [possible] tornado, but it was the one of the cells that developed the new area of rotation," he said.
It was on the southeast side of Petrolia, where he was able to get some photos of the damage. Including some downed trees, roofs being peeled back, and a shed that was ripped apart.
Couple more shots as funnel kinked and vanished and ground circ broadened. Dirt pulled right into the updraft...can see intense meso rotation by flipping between pics! I think this is a case of quick tor genesis during cell merger process. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/onstorm?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#onstorm</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ECCCWeatherON?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ECCCWeatherON</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/westernuNTP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@westernuNTP</a> <a href="https://t.co/DPfL07oubs">pic.twitter.com/DPfL07oubs</a>
—@ONwxchaserAlthough he likes to be in the mix of dangerous weather, he's always mindful of safety. Piano said he keeps an eye on the radar to know which areas are clear.
"There's always going to be lightning danger, wind danger with any thunderstorm, but I always try to chase as safe as I can," he said.
Piano said he'll continue chasing storms with his emergency kit and camera close by.
He says he shares his reports from his chases with other meteorologists to help them issue warnings.
"I love the adrenaline rush of seeing the best nature has to offer. It's always great to be out in the field watching these things in real time."