Background:

Animation showing the 2 lines

This was looking better. A cell had formed on the northern line and the western line and they looked like they were going to collide just north of my region. Looking around the region, a waterspout had been spotted on Lake Erie near Cleveland and I was thinking that things may get interesting inland if conditions persisted. At 12:45pm, the 2 cells collided, merged and intensified. I was out the door at this point heading northwest to the north side of Fergus/Elora.

The Chase:

Chase Track Map

I had a little trouble getting through Fergus as the roads were very busy. I finally got north of town and noticed the nice development to my northwest and targeted that area. I came up to Township Road 15 and headed east until I came to Concession 12&13. I made a quick turn north and parked in a little barn driveway. As I scanned the skies, I noticed some slight rotation to the southwest and quickly got the camcorder in hand. Time:1:15pm

Very quickly a single funnel started to form and then 2 ill-formed funnels around it. Recording this on video, I grabbed the phone and called Environment Canada Severe Weather Desk and talked with Ed Becker and told him I had a cold core funnel just north of Elora tracking southeastward to Fergus around 30 kms per hour. It dissipated about 20 seconds later while talking with him.

The Whole Cycle In Still Captures From Video

He informed me a statement was just being prepared. He thanked me for the information and I told him I would call with further updates if it reformed over Fergus or any additional chases produced adverse weather.

I headed south on Concession 12&13 to Township Road 20 and headed back to Fergus on the backside but  there was no additional development. I casually looked down and noticed I had no gas. A chasers nightmare. I quickly pulled into the Becker's to get gas and discovered that their pumps were not working. It took 5 mins to get 5 dollars worth of gas. Ok, a quick splash and go to quote a racing term. I had talked with someone at the pump and he had spotted the funnel as well so I showed him a still before I paid and went on my way southeastward.

At this time, the atmosphere changed and many weaker cells were around but the lightning was pretty weak. I continued to head south on 29 to Highway 24 and made a east turn to Brucedale where I pulled in to get a full tank of gas.

I decided to head north again as I noticed a rapidly developing cell to my northwest over the Fergus area. I drove north to the first concession and headed west when the cell engulfed me. Hail started to pound the truck so I made another call to E.C. and told Ed about the hail sizes and my location near Speedside.

Hail And Radar Animation of It

		Like Snow Falling
Hail Banks
	Hail on Radar	Radar Animation

After filming the hail for 3 minutes, the ground was covered with hail and some small banks formed from it. Time: 2:10pm I was soaked from the rain and the hail was so thick that it created a little bank in my truck. I headed home to change and noticed that this cell was rapidly intensifying but I was too wet to continue the chase. I headed home for the night with some nice memories and good footage. Time: 2:25

The chase did not end there. I noticed a few more cells on radar around 4 pm so I took off again and photographed some nice cell formation shots. After this I headed to Guelph for the evening to relax and reminisce.

Neat	Rain Core
The Core	Hail Shaft

I took a drive to the local OPP station and talked with the media person to find out if any damage was reported in the region. There is always the off chance that the funnel did touch down but not visible to the eye except at the ground. He said that no damage reports had been received so this is a funnel cloud.

All Photos and information unless otherwise noted are copyrighted 2000 by Dave Patrick.  Any use other than authorized by them is against the law.  If you wish to contact me regarding use of these photos, please e-mail me. Images unaltered digitally (except where stated)