PIPER LANCE PLT ENCOUNTERS SEVERE WX ENRTE AND DIVERTS FOR LNDG.

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ON DEPARTING THERE WERE NUMEROUS CELLS IN FLORIDA WHICH DELAYED MY DEP. WHEN I DID DEPART; I CHKED THE COMPUTER WX AND FILED FOR A RTE THAT WAS FREE OF TSTMS. AFTER LEAVING FLORIDA THE WX WAS CLR THROUGH GEORGIA; HOWEVER; ATC INFORMED ME OF A LINE OF TSTMS S OF MY DEST AND REROUTED ME ALONG THE E SIDE OF ATLANTA. I WAS HANDED OFF TO A NEW CTLR AND ALL WAS GOING WELL UNTIL I WAS N OF ATLANTA AROUND GAINESVILLE; GEORGIA; WHEN I NOTED THAT MANY LARGE ACFT WERE BEING VECTORED AROUND AREAS OF WX THAT SEEMED TO BE AHEAD OF ME. I TRIED TO LOOK AT THE WX USING MY CELL PHONE AND WAS ABLE TO PULL UP THE RADAR IMAGES FOR MY AREA. USUALLY THE CELL PHONE WILL NOT WORK IN THE COCKPIT; BUT I GUESS I JUST GOT LUCKY THIS TIME. I NOTED A RATHER NASTY LINE OF TSTMS DIRECTLY AHEAD OF ME AND CALLED ATC TO ASK WHAT THEY SAW ON THEIR RADAR. MY CTLR ADVISED ME THAT THERE WAS A LINE OF LEVEL 3; 4; AND 5 TSTMS AT MY 12 O'CLOCK POS AND 22 MI. I IMMEDIATELY ASKED FOR A TURN TO GO TO MCCOLLUM ARPT (RYY) AND WAS TOLD TO TURN TO A HDG OF 360 DEGS AND TO STAND BY. I WAS ALSO 'SCOLDED' BY THE CTLR FOR NOT BEING AWARE OF THIS WX ON MY PREFLT WX BRIEFING. WHEN I TOLD HIM THAT THIS WX WAS NOT THERE WHEN I RECEIVED MY PREFLT BRIEFING; HE INFORMED ME THAT HE HAD BEEN BUSY VECTORING JETS AROUND THE WX FOR 2 HRS. I HAD BEEN IN THE AIR SLIGHTLY OVER 3 HRS. WITH A HDG OF 360 DEGS TAKING ME DIRECTLY INTO VERY LARGE CELLS AHEAD; I TURNED TO 90 DEGS TO REMAIN CLR OF THE TSTMS. I HAD NOT YET INFORMED ATC DUE TO FREQ CONGESTION; BUT MY CTLR QUICKLY INQUIRED IF I WAS HDG 360 DEGS. I TOLD HIM THAT I WAS UNABLE DUE TO BUILDUPS AND HE THEN APOLOGIZED FOR HIS PRIOR 'SCOLDING' STATING THAT HE THOUGHT THAT I HAD DEPARTED FROM MCCOLLUM (NEAR ATLANTA) AND DID NOT REALIZE THAT I HAD BEEN COMING FROM SANFORD; FL. HE THEN CLRED ME TO MCCOLLUM; WHERE I LANDED UNEVENTFULLY. AFTER LNDG THERE WERE SOME RATHER SEVERE TSTMS WHICH FINALLY CLRED ENOUGH BY THE NEXT DAY TO MAKE IT HOME.