Charter boat guide Tom Weaver was confident he’d be able to dodge the forecasted storms during his scheduled roundtrip from Annapolis to Tolchester on the afternoon of July 6. Instead, his course took him right into the path of a common but largely unknown weather phenomenon.
Two massive storms converged over the Chesapeake Bay, leaving Weaver and his clients trapped between them. Among them were John Chiochetti; his son, Ryan Scales; and their friend, Brian Robinson. “We just start motoring south a little bit, just to get in this lane between the two storms and we’re watching, watching, watching and then they start to merge,” Weaver recalled. “Sometimes, I can get away without even getting wet. This one just closed in on us and we didn’t have anywhere to hide.”
Though the storm to the north, near Tolchester, was the smaller of the two, the lightning there was far worse so Weaver determined it would be best to head towards Annapolis. He could see the shipping channel markers on the GPS, but he couldn’t make out the markers in the water in front of him due to the horizontal rain and blinding wind.
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