Active Chase Stats (estimated, no GPS)
Miles Driven
 120 miles
Trip Time (time in motion)
 2 hrs.
Chase Time (departure to end chase)
 8 hrs (12:15am - 8:00am)*
Max. Speed
 65 mph
Avg. Speed
 45 mph (US-1 + rain)
*includes time slept in car approx. 2 hours total

Total Chase Day Stats
Miles Driven
 150 miles
Trip Time (time in montion)
 4 hrs
Chase Time (departure to end of day)
 11.5 hrs (1:30pm - 12:50am)
Max. Speed
Avg. Speed

Pictures (click on image to view full size)
massive lighning #2 #3 #4


Chase Map Low Resolution (--- kb) coming soon
Chase Map High Resolution (--- kb) coming soon

Meso Discussion Link

Tornado Watch #051 Link
Summary (by Jason Foster)

    Was watching this line of storms for three days.  It started out as part of the storms that put down a few tornadoes in western Kansas, 33 tornadoes the next day in the north Gulf coast (LA, MS, AL).  It finally got into Florida and the watch boxes started getting issued.  From north to south they decended one by one.  I was in Cutler Ridge at my brothers, and watched the radar.  Thought might have a change for getting some lightning shots.  Mostly watching the Miami radar, I switched to the Key West to to visualize a different angle, and see what the surrounding conditions were like. That's when I noticed two very nice looking isolated "flying eagle" shaped cells that at a time or two had nice "hook" signatures. 
    At around 10:30pm I decided I was going to intercept the storms, even if I just drove down to Homestead Speedway to do my filming and photographing.  Over the next couple of hours the cells became better looking and now the chase would be extended to Key Largo.
    Finally at 12:15am I left my brother house in Cutler Ridge and headed south.  Instead of taking the heavily lighted turnpike, the roads to the south of Cutler Ridge are unpopulated and unlighted and yield a good dark environment to see approaching storms.  I didn't expect to see much, but there was a few storms popping up  on radar, and I didn't have to rush.  These little storms might yield a quick CG show if I was lucky.  In the end, nothing, but that was only the first hour.  I continued south on US-1 and into Key Largo. 
    Once in the Keys the lightning began showing put a little bit more.  I could not be sure if it was the main front decending from the north or the from the two storms that were moving in from the west.  The two "supercells" were moving right along the Florida Keys, starting with Key West, Marathon, and on to my target Islamorada. 
    At around 2:45am I arrived at my southern most point around Milemarker 76.  There, at a parking lot next to the north end of the bridge I grabbed my gear and walked out onto the pedestrian bridge parellel to the road bridge.  This was a great spot.  Low light for good contrasting shots, free of obstructions....well some telephone lines, but not significantly in the way.  I was over water, flat and clear.  The only problem was the high amount of traffic along US-1 (the bridge parelled).  Because of the dark conditions many were driving with the high beam headlights which in turn refracted light into my lense leaving a lot of my shots overexposed.
    I stood up on that bridge for quite a while, figured the storms would move in anytime.  After about 2 hours it started to rain more than what I would allow for my equipment to get wet.  I walked back to the car, got in, and started back toward home stopping from time to time when the rain lightened up where I thought I might set-up again.  Never did though, and I was getting extremely tired.
    Finally, there was just no fighting it and then I had to rest.  I stopped on the side of the road took a nap for and hour.  I got back upto Key Largo, but had to stop and rest again, this time for another hour.  Finally around 6:00am the sun started to appear, the storm seemed to move on, and I continued on US-1 north.  Interestingly enough the line that I kept wondering about finally came through, this time as a nice shelf cloud with lightning at 6:30 am.  I stopped one more time, pulled off on a dirt path and tried to get some shots.  Got it on video, but the pictures didn't come out so well.  Thats when the torrent of rain began, and I got out of there.   At this point the chase was over and I headed home for good.
    I arrived back at my brothers around 9am, went right in and went to sleep.  At around 5pm I finally woke up and started getting my chase materials together.  I was a success in my book and I got one really nice shot out of it.  Should have had more, but there will always be more storms.

End Log