This was representative of the radar all afternoon: storms to the north, storms to the south, and none reachable from my chosen departure point (Culpeper). Oh, I never made it there as I jumped on a lone storm that exploded over Spotsylvania county just after 1430 today. It literally grew from no radar return to a 23,000+ feet top with an impressive signature in less than 20 minutes. Of course it fell apart just as quickly while I was getting into position for an intercept near New Post. By the time I figured that out the other storms were rapidly moving northeastward from their respective positions. If I had staged out of either Winchester or Tappahannock earlier in the afternoon I would have been in good position, but neither of those locales were in today’s plan. B-U-S-Ted by my own design under a Severe TS Watch!