06/07/07 REPORTS: TX / OK / KS / MO / IA / IL / WI

[John Farley]

Will try again after typing half of this then losing it

Caught two very intense supercells today in Carroll Co., MO. The first was a classic supercell, which went TOR warned a few minutes after I got on it 4 or 5 miles south of Carrollton. It produced estimated 80 mph winds and golfball hail in Carroll Co., and larger hail one county east. I saw 3 big dust clouds, probably associated with RFD downbursts, as the storm passed just to my north. One of these, which was under a small lowering, crossed the road about a mile to my north, bringing traffic to a stop. This was just before 6 p.m. I need to review video, but am pretty sure it was all outflow-related. Also very frequent CG in the core just before these dust clouds blew up.

Here is a picture of the first dust cloud. Probably a gustnado or two in there, but I was a little too far away to tell for sure:

The second storm, which was HP, again produced estimated 80 mph winds but this time the hail was up to baseball sized. It was a truly mean-looking storm, with a big, dark, low wall cloud with an inflow tail to the NE. Behind the wall cloud were very pronounced vertical shafts of rain and hail - this was around 6:40, just before the baseball hail report came in. Here is a picture:

This was a surprisingly easy chase given that the storms were moving 50 mph, because they kept training over the same areas. Although it was about 45 minutes later, and I did move around some in between, I ended up watching the second supercell from almost exactly the same spot from which I watched the first one. I could have just stayed there! Both storms seemed to reach peak intensity as they moved near route 65 in Carroll Co.

I will eventually post a full report with photos and video, but since I am doing an art show tomorrow it will probably be a few days before I can get to it. BTW, my new laptop (the one I whined about needing in my 5/6 chase log) served me well. My original target was along I-70 between Columbia and Kansas City, but a wifi check (worked great!) in COU told me I needed to head northwest toward Chillicothe - the storms were linear in the KC area and making no eastward progress, but were splitting apart into individual cells up the line toward Chillicothe. In the end, I didn't have to go quite that far, but that was definitely the right direction!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Intercepted 9 or 10 different storms today on a marathon cell-hopping chase between Des Moines, IA and Booneville, MO. All with the same story. Supercell structures at first glance, but no bite to back up the bark. I didn't see one instance of visible rotation all day. Did see some cool sights though. Currently at a hotel in STL resting up for the trip home.

 

[Tony Laubach]

COMPLETE JUNE 7, 2007 TORNADO/HAIL STORM CHASE LOG CAN BE FOUND HERE!!!

One of those great chases of my career all things considered! Chris Collura and I briefly witnessed the Wisconsin Rapids, WI tornado; documented HUGE hail in town, then dropped south to take beautiful lightning photos and get treated to a large, white funnel near Rochelle, Illinois! It was am amazing day considering what we had to work with and did amazingly well with it! I am very very pleased with today and am glad I opted into this target as opposed to elsewhere. Among insane storm motions and horrible chase terrain, we bagged very well!

COMPLETE JUNE 7, 2007 TORNADO/HAIL STORM CHASE LOG CAN BE FOUND HERE!!!

COMPLETE JUNE 7, 2007 TORNADO/HAIL STORM CHASE LOG CAN BE FOUND HERE!!!

 

[Brian Stertz]

Back from a post sunset chase in NE Oklahoma with Rich & Ryan Thies and Scott Currens. After a disappointing wait and see at Chandler OK for several hrs., took a gamble on some storms that were organizing steadily over Osage Co. OK. The location of the storms was pretty primed for those becoming supercells eventually as they were on the north-northeast poke of the theta ridge. Got on a decent (somewhat outflowy) t-warned supercell south of Bartlesville and north of Vera in Washington Co. OK. It had a nice circulation east of US Highway 75 and we watched this at very close range. Had the classic warm moist - cool and wet outflow mixing just south of the circulation....followed by an abrupt windshift to the southwest and a warm RFD blast. The circulation occluded to our northeast about 2-3 miles and had what appeared to be a funnel (??) at this time. Lightning illuminated this feature which stayed pretty much unobscured by rain for about 5 mins. before the rain wrapped in from the northwest. Never could catch back up with the sustained circulation that moved across Nowata Co. into Craig Co. OK. Headed on back to KC after this turned into a scrubbed mission. Not a complete bust but...

I am growing very weary of this post sunset chasing. What happened to the good 'ole days of 5-6pm explosive supercell development then 7-8pm tornado time anyway??!! Inquiring minds want to know....

 

[Travis Carlson]

I also was in the Tipton, IA area for most of the day northeast of Iowa City, IA as several storms came my way. Some with decent rotation and others with weak rotation. Grabed some decent pics of wall clouds one just to the north of Mechanicsville, IA at around 4:20PM. This storm was the best one of the day that I chased. It several times had weak funnels protrude from the wall cloud. We definately were missing something today that didn't allow tornadoes to develop. I agree cloud cover was a problem as it kept instablity down a bit.

Wall cloud north of Mechanicsville, IA

Possible wall cloud near Tipton, IA

 

[afischer]

I witnessed three tornado-warned storms and two severe-warned storms yesterday in a veritable supercell bonanza northeast of KC metro. Unfortunately, structure overall was pretty poor, with many updrafts looking wet, linear, and high-based. Intercepted the first storm near Smithville and chased it northeastward to north of Chillicothe. It was highly elevated in appearance. Dropped south and intercepted the second storm west of Stet (northeast of Richmond). It was weakening rapidly and choking on outflow. I dropped south again and intercepted the third storm west of Norborne, which was the most interesting. The rainfree base displayed weak rotation. Dirt was suddenly lifted beneath the cloud base, taking on a column-like shape. With no strong outflow surge apparent, I wondered if this was a tornado... but reviewing video, I highly doubt it. Thereafter it became rapidly outflow-dominant as I chased it along Highway 24 all the way to Brunswick. Moved back east for the fourth storm west of Dewitt, which was an absolute beast (producing golfball hail and 80mph winds). It occasionally looked like it was trying to wrap up a low-level mesocyclone, but would quickly get shrouded in rain. The leading edge of it caught me in Brunswick and produced plenty of dime hail (luckily I escaped before getting the golfballs). Let that one go northeast of Keyetsville and moved back west for one final beautiful storm, again west of Norborne.

 

[Adam Lucio]

Decided to drive along US-20 on our way back to Chicago from Sioux CIty. Saw those early afternoon towers quickly go up and charge into Wisconsin and southern Minnesota, as well as the ones going up to the south near Iowa City, Finally caught up with everything around the Dubuque area [we need more spots to cross the Mississippi!!] Thats about as bad of a chase area as northern WI. Hills, trees, valleys and small towns with 1 lane roads and 25mph speed limits. Everytime we were about to give up on a storm it would drop a wall cloud so we would stick with it only to have it dissipate 10 minutes later, this happened about 4 times and finally at the end of the day when there was a really persistant one that we followed into southern wisconsin, when obscured by trees it almost looked like a funnel, saw people taking pictures, i hope they know better! By the time we hit I-90 i called it a bust and headed home. Not smug tho, Wednesday was a great chase in South Dakota.

Something about this HIGH risk didnt seem high to me...

Glad some of you bagged some decent action.

 

[William Rayner]

High risk indeed.
As I paused in Emporia, KS, today to do laundry, I was wondering whether I should also wash all these hotshot proggers right out of my hair. Two days of driving like hell to and from both "high risk" zones brought nothing but some strong t-storms and one weak wall cloud. So Thursday, touted by the media as being the most dangerous situation ever ("we're all gonna die!") was just another stormy afternoon. Too bad I didn't have private resources and could fly into Wisconsin (or up to SD the day before).
Hell, the stuff rolling out of NM into the Midland area a few days ago was more exciting than all this high-risk baloney. A diehard optimist about tornado risks, I feel I must start taking the SPC outlooks with more than the usual grain of salt. As Eulalie McKechnie Schinn of River City, Iowa said a century ago, "I'm reticent; oh yes, I'm reticent."

 

[J West]

A tornado warning was quickly issued and the base started to lower and go into scud mode. I vehemently tried to keep up with it, that is until I reliazed the road went into a military base. The last thing I saw was a low level curve to the updraft and a forming wall cloud.

It actually turned out a bit better than I was expecting but I still didn't see that much. I ended the day wandering into the amusement town of [Wisconsin] Dells, as a large low level cloud scrapped the ground from a low-end severe cell.

I got you covered...I was on Fort McCoy for the week and snapped these as it crossed right over us at the State Patrol academy on the east end of the base. As I posted in the NOW thread, it really cranked up in the 10 minutes I could watch it. The TOR warning from KARX said a forward speed of -80- mph! Also, the updraft inflow was intense - more so than I've seen in WI before. The scud was being pulled upwards into the updraft with significant speed and the clear slot was working it's way around like a plains storm. It really wanted to go all the way, but something was stopping it. This beast came complete with a wet RFD about 90 seconds after the backside of the updraft passed...it was a very impressive storm by Wisconsin standards.

This had strong rotation for a solid 5 minutes that I could see, and it was moving in a CCW direction around the updraft.

 

[Ben Leitschuh]

Not much to add. Chad Cowan and I played near the IA/IL/WI borders and observed a few storms that just couldn't pull it together. Not sure what the limiting factor was, but it seemed to hold true for every cell south of Minneapolis. We were on 1 or 2 cells that were currently torn. warned, but didn't appear to be more than weak rotation. Things popped early and moved fast so staying north and letting cells hit you was the name of the game. I wouldn't call it a bust, we saw some decent storms and wall clouds. Bonehead move of the chase, leaving my ISO set at 1600 from previous night! That'll add some noise to your shots. Some pics:

Wallcloud? that came out of nowhere

Mean looking outflow features and rain/hail shaft

Torn. warned storm base looking linear.

 

[Dan Robinson]

In a day with a rather crazy forecast, decided to go with the RUC and 4km WRF and try the IA/MO border area, a target that was in decent terrain, within reach and not rediculously north.

Started in Grand Island and made it east of Des Moines just as the first tornado-warned storm crossed I-80. We didn't try to stay with any storm, choosing rather to jump south to the next cell down the line. We did this at least 9 times. Every storm looked nearly identical, basically supercell underachievers. As the bases came into view, apparent wall clouds appeared in the haze - but as contrast improved, it was the same story - no rotation and more of a shelfy feature than anything. Our southerly path ended in Kirksville, MO, where we turned west to catch the last two storms of the day west of Moberly, near Clifton Hill and Salisbury.

Possibly the best looking structure of the day, with vault and smooth round base at Searsboro, IA. Despite the good looks, no rotation to back it up:

All storms had a similar look.
http://stormhighway.com/2007/june72.jpg
http://stormhighway.com/2007/june73.jpg

This storm, near Salisbury, MO at the time of this picture, looked great up high for a while:

http://stormhighway.com/2007/june74.jpg

But, under the base, it was the same song and dance as all the others.

Lightning was good most of the day, although the CGs made a habit of hitting too far to the right side of the frame.

A few more:
http://stormhighway.com/2007/june7a.jpg
http://stormhighway.com/2007/june7b.jpg
http://stormhighway.com/2007/june7c.jpg

We finally dropped south to Booneville to get a view of the storms from the south, which was spectacular. The towers were silhuetted in the fading twilight, with lightning flashing from within.

Ended the Day in St. Charles after midnight.

 

[Tony Lyza]

Left Schererville, IN, at 1 PM, with an initial target of De Kalb, IL (easy to get north and west). Ended up stopping in Rochelle, IL, to gas up and get data. We moved a little farther west to Dixon, IL, to get in position for the storms in IA. I thought that positioning there would increase our chances of bagging a nader as the storms would be approaching in the evening and the LCLs would start dropping a bit. After listening to LOT's live NWR briefing and looking at the DVN radar, I realized that the best storms in IA were going to end up in the Jo Daviess/Stephenson/Carroll Counties region. So we sped up I-39 to Rockford, grabbed a quick bite from the local Subway, and sped west on US 20 to Freeport in Stephenson County, IL. Made another quick data stop in Freeport and quickly realized we were in very good position to catch the storms that had been near Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and were rapidly moving NE and were proceeding to enter Jo Daviess County. We moved a few miles north to a position NW of the small town of Cedarville. We noted that the storms were exhibiting some weak rotation. We found a road that crossed a substantial hill and had a pulloff that provided a tremendous view to the NW as the first storm moved to the NW of us, with a wall cloud exhibiting some rotation and a couple very brief, pathetic tiny funnels.

We moved south as the second of the three cells became outflow dominant. We got to just east of Cedarville and got directly underneath the rain-free base of the third cell. It too had a weakly rotating wall cloud, and as it passed above, we noted a pendant rotating anticyclonically right on the very edge of the cloud. We followed the cell east of Cedarville until reaching IL 75, when the updraft wrapped in rain.

All in all, we did a pretty good job of salvaging what we could. It hurt a little to see Tony's grabs from the Rochelle area, but we still managed some good shots.

http://www.pr0gr4mm3r.net/gallery2/main.php/v/chase_2007-06-07/http://www.pr0gr4mm3r.net/gallery2/main.php/v/chase_2007-06-07/
(5193-5233 for first cell, 5264-5306 for third cell)

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I uploaded some video I shot here in Crawford Co. Kansas of the wall cloud.

http://www.kschaser.com/june7.wmv

 

[James Hammett]

This was definitely an underwhelming chase given the progged potential. We targeted eastern Iowa and like many others intercepted the sad looking excuses for supercells as they zipped across I-80 near Iowa City. It was the same story every time. A cell would be tornado warned with a non-rotating wall cloud, then it would cross I-80 and throw down some nasty CGs, and quickly fall apart whilst spewing scuddy outflow. The only excitement came when I barely made it back into the safety of the car before an unexpected CG barrage when I was out messing with my cell antenna. At one point simultaneous bolts came down on either side of the car (branched?). We moved east with the line but decided against trying to follow anything up northeast given the hills and trees. The image above was the last cell we intercepted looking southwest towards Tipton.

On the way back to I-80 we drove through a tiny town called Sunbury. It had a few turn-of-the-century buildings that were in utter ruins. It looked like at some point people bought or inherited the land they sat on and built houses right next to them without bothering to tear the ruins down. Here’s an example:


Notice the boat on the left and the driveway to a house on the right.

 

[Dick McGowan]

We should have just headed home after watching the OFD storms training over each other around the KC metro area. Warm 500 temps wasn't going to get it done with unidirectional 500's to sfc as well as a slow moving dryline/pacific front thing. Oh well, we were close to home. Darin, Jordan and I followed a somewhat photogenic storm near dusk as it flew into Missouri.

Near Paola

East of Stanley KS, near MO border: