STORM TRACK: September 30, 1982 (Volume 5 Issue 6)

Roy Britt has brought to ST's attention information on a photo lab that produces laser prints from slides; Laser Color Laboratories, P.O. Box 8000, Department M, Fairview Drive, West Palm Beach, Florida 33407. For those unfamiliar with the process, laser light is used to create superb prints of very rich/deep colors (almost giving a three dimensional effect). Roy says that Laser Color will send "a large amount of information." ST notes that you can send cropping instructions with your slide(s). Prices range from $14.75 for 8X10 to $36.50 for 16X20 (add 10% for shipping and handling). Of course, your choice should be sharp/clear slides for optimum printing/enlargement.

Jan Curtis sent me an interesting letter some time back on a remarkably long squall line of June 6, 1977. "The afternoon was quite hot and humid for that time o. year. I was the Navy forecaster in Norfolk, Virginia. At 2PM, the GOES satellite showed an intensifying line of thunderstorms in the extreme western part of the state. It must have impressed someone in Kansas City, because the National Weather Center issued a severe T-storm warning for a very large area over the middle Atlantic States. By 4PM, the largest squall line ever depicted on NWC's radar fax chart, stretched from Arkansas to New York. The average height of the line was well over 40,000 ft with many cells in excess of 50,000 ft. Needless to say, the telephone didn't stop ringing. Everyone wanted to know if it was really going to gust to 80 knots. I replied by saying that this line was moving eastward at 60 knots, and that several hooked echoes were clearly evident (almost on a continuous basis). I had a free moment to call home. My sister was visiting me at my beach front condo on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach. Luckily, she was home. I warned her to yell out to the people on the beach to seek shelter immediately. Just then, the gust front hit my station. Gusts reached 98 MPH at Norfolk International Airport, 3 miles to the east, within a minute. My sister asked, "What are you talking about? The sun was shining brightly." There was no hint of danger. Suddenly, the phone went dead. Several windows in my building shattered, when gusts fluctuated by more than 40 knots within seconds. The city was in total confusion. Trees and power lines were downed everywhere. But the city made national news that day when the 60 foot fishing boat Dixie Lee overturned in Chesapeake Bay, only 300 yards from shore. Thirteen of the 26 passengers on board drowned. I was later asked to testify during the Coast Guard's investigation of this serious accident. An apparent tornado/ waterspout was the probable cause for the disaster. The survivors told an unbelievable account of how a 15 foot (tidal) wave swept over the boat, overturning it, and how it began rotating counter-clockwise in the water."