Severe Weather - June 4, 2008
Frame 1: 2:37pm EDT
The green arrow in all the frames points to the area where Erin and I live and work.
Note the storm tracks for cells K8 and U0. The yellow squares indicate hail.
Frame 2: 2:42pm EDT
Cells K8 and U0 appear to diverge around Herndon. Cell O1 shows a detected tornado vortex.
Frame 3: 2:46pm EDT
Cells K8 and U0 continue on track to miss Herndon. Cell O1 is gone, but the rough stuff is about to begin.
Frame 4: 2:51pm EDT
All hell is about to break loose. Cell K8 spawns a tornado vortex to the northwest around Purcellville, heading east just north of Leesburg. U0 continues east, to the south of Herndon. Hail is detected way down south in cell R3.
Frame 5: 2:56pm EDT
Things get crazy at work; buckets of rain, super-high winds, everything that makes you believe a tornado could hit at any moment. K8 no longer shows rotation, new cell N0 pops up almost overhead, and U0 passes over Manassas. Hail to the south.
Frame 6: 3:00pm EDT
N0 passes through Herndon, new cell A3 is born just to the southeast. Lots of hail continues down south. K8 still looks pretty strong, and U0 appears to be strengthening.
Frame 7: 3:05pm EDT
The worst has passed Herndon. Tornado vortices at our old friend U0 and newcomer A3.
Frame 7: 3:10pm EDT
Lots of hail and severe weather continues east into the District and Maryland. K8 and U0 would continue on their respective courses, dropping hail for the next 30 minutes.
Tornadoes were reported touching down in Huntington (south of Alexandria), as well as Falls Church (east of Vienna, inside the Beltway). There were some reports of a funnel cloud traveling east/southeast from Herndon into Reston, but those cannot be confirmed.
