{"id":17251,"date":"2017-03-21T16:42:47","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T00:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=17251"},"modified":"2017-03-23T17:17:16","modified_gmt":"2017-03-24T01:17:16","slug":"march-21-2017-san-joaquin-valley-storm-chase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2017\/03\/21\/march-21-2017-san-joaquin-valley-storm-chase\/","title":{"rendered":"March 21, 2017 San Joaquin Valley storm chase"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"170321_0796_Tipton\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Start — home, Westlake Village<\/strong><\/p>\n

End — home, Westlake Village<\/strong><\/p>\n

635 miles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Several strong storms near Chowchilla in Madera County, and a nice supercell near Tulare in Tulare County, California<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Post-frontal instability was forecast for the Central Valley of California this day. \u00a0The best backed winds looked to be from about Fresno northward. \u00a0Severe weather looked possible, and a tornado possible but not likely. \u00a0I hedged and hedged the night prior, thinking that it was just too far to the best area to bother (a 4-5 hour drive), especially given the prospects: \u00a0pretty good by California standards, but so-so by Great Plains standards for storm setups. \u00a0I looked at the maps in the morning and decided to commit. \u00a0I had the entire day off, so why not?! \u00a0I got out of the valley by about 10 a.m. and was up near Fresno by about 2 p.m. \u00a0A nice and big patch of mostly clear skies was allowing a lot of needed sunshine to heat the land from Fresno northward and westward to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. \u00a0And, some nice, big cumulus clouds were building to my northwest!<\/p>\n

My iPhone radar showed a tornado-warned cell several counties to the northwest. \u00a0My tail-end cell looked decent as I got into position, southwest of Chowchilla. \u00a0The southeasterly inflow to it was impressive, and a nice rain-free base with a lowered area materialized. \u00a0There was occasional thunder, and new updrafts went up not too far to the south. \u00a0The cells moved NNE and gradually became a little less organized, and less intense, it seemed. \u00a0Here are some stills of the cells near Chowchilla in Madera County.<\/p>\n

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