The severe weather had been warned of 24 hours ago, and now it looked like we might get our first taste. Knowing what was ahead, I had gotten up at 6am even though it was Saturday (and that was a big stretch to me, let me tell you...) The squall line was decent then; now it is looking severe. It is approaching at 45 mph. I stalled a little bit waiting for another radar shot, to try to see whether it would be better to head north or south from HQ. I had to leave HQ because it's in a valley or sorts, the question was only which direction to take to attempt a better view of the oncoming storm. It looked as if the stronger part might hit south towards downtown so I headed that way.

At 7:43 AM the NWS issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the area.

Two things happened when I left the house. One was that I glanced at the gas tank and kicked myself for not remembering that I was nearly out of gas.

The other was that the sky was extremely dark ahead and I could tell my time was limited. After extinguishing themselves with the rise of the sun hours ago, the streetlights shone again against the dark sky.

As I pulled Vehicle #1 over to take some video of the dark sky and lowering scud clouds, it was quiet and way too dark for 9am.

Although I didn't notice it at the time, the video captures suggested a sort of wall cloud approaching. It was very impressive regardless.

The first large drops of rain started hitting the windshield and I decided that I wasn't going to make it any further. I pulled off on Pleasant Valley Road heading towards Duraleigh Road and got to a place where I could pull off the road and had a decent view.

For some reason I couldn't get the anemometer to deploy correctly and ended up struggling with it as the wind sprayed me with heavy rain and forced the car door against me. I had waited too late this time and hadn't allowed enough time to deploy. Finally I got it anchored to the top of the car and returned inside to be pelted with heavy rain for about 15 minutes. The most the aneometer could muster (at least after I got it up there) was 25 mph, sustained 15 to 20, but it seemed like more.

Heavy rain and wind continued for about 15 minutes.

On returning to HQ, the NWS issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for the storm as it left.

The storms were mostly over for Raleigh and I was able to get some well-deserved sleep.