Tropical Storm Fay...

Heading east out of Ft Myers on Hwy 80 and towards the the "eye" of the storm.
Got in late last night from running all over Florida..(literally a 900 miles chase). I have finished up editing a batch of pics and still haven't even got to the video editing yet. I am still exhausted from very little sleep over the last 56 hours... a sheriff's deputy just left from my house as I had to file a police report of someone stealing a gun out of my truck. Speaking of the truck she is headed back to the shop in the morning for transmission work. $$$$$$ add to that the money to replace the gun.... :-( Blame it in Fay.

A hurricane does not translate well into pictures. Some of these shots could have been taken from any good thunderstorm we have here in Georgia. But it was worth it as I did get to meet Jeff Gammons one of our SWB members. Chaser convergence is always great. I also got to intercept the eye of rain free center of circulation. I had a measured wind gust to 83 mph hit me while exiting the eye and traveling into the eastern wall of the circulation. Bands of showers are passing over us now, a little tease from TS Fay as she draws closer and should pass just to my south. You will find better pictures on http://www.wayfarersjourney.com/ and more being posted later..

------------------------------------------UPDATE!!!!---------------------------------------
Chase Summary..

Left out at about 1pm on Monday. Fay decided to shorten my intercept time by about 24 hours so I had to load and go quickly as I wasnt planning on leaving til Tuesday morning. Its a nice long 5 hour drive down to Punta Gorda Florida and there wasn't much traffic on the road below Tampa so it was mostly uneventful...(mostly). I decided on this location for the night in case Fay decided to track further north than expected. After arriving in Punta Gorda I found a place to stay. Seems everyone had the same idea as two ABC affiliates, one NBC affiliate and a two CNN news crews were already there. (CNN reporter doing his job in this shot)Well I grabbed a few shots and started doing a little filming before daylight was gone. I was walking across the parking lot with my gear and was approached by person from one of the news crews. He was friendly and asked where I was from and who I was shooting for. His partner commented on my video camera and commented on the price he thought I paid for it. The female reporter even introduced herself..(Yes as most female reportrs are..She was hot!! ;-) and lets just say I could have bought a new SUV with the amount he guessed I paid for my camera) For a few seconds I relished the moment I was cool!!!..LOLOLOL!! We talked for a long while as I shot pics and we talked about cameras video work, etc etc. They were a really nice group of people. People were milling around watching the news crews do their thing and didn't seem to mind the weather at all. I heard a helicopter fly by and saw that it was a medical chopper headed north. I assume they staging it further inland out of the path of the storm.

I had to fight with my computer not wanting to connect to the wireless signal in the hotel. I missed some great sunset shots while doing this. This was also the time I discovered that someone had stolen a handgun out of my truck. This chase was going downhill very quickly..I finally resolved all my computer problems and contacted my insurance company about the theft. They said it would NOT be covered. At this point I was very aggravated. I returned to the hotel grabbed my gear and went and shot a few more pics before the rain arrived..I got back to the room and it dawned on me I hadn't eat nothing all day. Well everything had closed so all I could find was diet Coke and popcorn from the vending machine in the lobby..Yum Yum!

I caught about 4 hours sleep as I was up and down all night watching the radar and getting reports from "HGTV" aka the Weather Channel. finally around daybreak I looked outside and it looked the same as it did the day before. Still no storm.. Time to hit the road and find her...She had moved inland sooner than expected and further to my south. I was tired and still ticked off about someone breaking into my truck. I decided to head back home. I tried but guess it wasn't meant to be. I called Jeff G and said I was headed home and he said I should head east and catch the eye. I was already 20 miles up the interstate and made another call to the NWS office to file a quick report in with my friend Tim. He also stated that being I was already way down there I might as well go and catch the storm. Well, that's what I decided to do. Why not? A quick turn round and I was headed south...

I had lived off of energy drinks for 24 hours now and was needing food really bad. I finally found a place that was opened and grabbed a quick breakfast to go..Fast food always comes back to haunt you..(I will just leave that thought there with you...;-) I got down to Ft Myers and headed east on Hwy 80. Radar was showing me just to the north of a very distinct eye feature and I wanted to catch it. I had been on the phone with Smitty, Dewdrop and Jay Reid throughout the chase so far and both was offering great radar reports and guidance as I was on the road. I pulled up just east of Labelle Florida and waited on the eye to pass over my position. I waited and waited and waited. This storm was really taking her time! She was only 10 miles south of me and at this time my truck was rocking back and forth from the 50mph winds. in the shot below you can see the radar pic on my laptop. The black circle is the eye of the storm. Now this was starting to get interesting...!! As she got closer the wind got worse. I was getting a little uneasy and I pulled the truck into a position as to be facing into the wind. The truck was still be rocked but not quite as bad.

Yes, this is my "uneasy feeling" look... I decided to travel further to the east and found a store to stop at to shoot some video. It was at this time some of the highest winds hit. I had hurricane force winds hitting me at the store. Parts of the metal covering over the fuel pumps started to fly off and disappear. The store was being flooded from the rain being forced by the winds under the door. then, all of a sudden, mother nature flipped a switch. The rain slowed and stopped and the wind died down to almost nothing...The eye had arrived!! I hoped in my truck and went down the road a little ways to shoot my pics and video. This shot is looking south. In the distance you can see the rain on the southern edge of the "eye"
Here you are looking east and into the ugly side of Fay. I would experience a peak gust of 83mph while going though this part of the storm...I was glad when it was over!!
I drove over to Lake Okeechobee and met up with Jeff Gammons (a SWB member), his wife Kristen and JJ. Jeff doing his thing while Kersten sleeps. JJ watches everything from the backseat. ;-) It wasn't under the best of conditions but where else would chasers met?? We sat at the shores of the lake, yelling at each other from our vehicles over the wind and rain, while a storm surge was coming in. Fay was pushing the water to the north end of the lake. I was an incredible site!

It was here that we encountered a guy from NOAA who was doing storm intercepts as well. He had more things to measure weather data than I could ever dream off. Must be nice to have the government pay for your storm chases! (These pics were shot through a rainy window, please forgive the quality)
After a quick chaser convergence pic we went our separate ways. I headed north and was trying to find a quick route home. I was very tired but happy to have successfully intercepted this storm.

Fay is just to my west and I am finlly breaking out of the storm...

I am posting the video I took while on this chase. It isn't much as I had to concentrate on driving most of the time. Doing this alone isn't recommended.

The Laurel and Hardy of stormchasing...LOL!! the wind was about 40 to 50 mph and the rain was stinging when it hit your face. Love the G-man pose here!! Right before leaving to go our seperate ways I yelled at Jeff that "This was so awesome" his wife then snaps the shot as the wind was roaring through. He looks at me and smiles and yells,"And this ones only a baby!" LOL!!!! Cant wait until the next one. I am hooked!