12/27/08 REPORTS: IL, MO, IN

[Paul Hadfield]

(Mods, please edit title as you see fit)

Within the lunchtime squall line to cruise across C IL were several TVS's. Kind of like the "whack-a-mole" game, it was hard to pick a decent location because one minute a TVS was there, the next gone. Ultimately, two emerged for Macon county so I chose a southern target that would put me in the country and offer better scenery as well as escape than around metro Decatur. The northern cell would become the better of the two but no complaints as the whole mess was much more productive than I had anticipated. It can be winter now...

E of Blue Mound IL and looking NW

same looking SW, note funnel at right

Video
http://www.vimeo.com/2645930

Field notes: I chased with wunderground radar of all things. When I went to http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/paulradar.pl?ILX and selected velocity, it was down.

I also opted for a whole new radio approach and listened via streaming audio instead of traditional radio. Other than the occasional refresh, worked like a charm without interruption. I keep the WXJ75 (Springfield) file on my laptop with a shortcut in the task bar. I have a bb card, no idea how this would work for those of you who tether?

 

[Jesse Risley]

Who can complain about a December chase?

Mike Boik and I intercepted TOR warned cells that were coming out of the Jerseyville, Illinois area this afternoon. The storms were becoming outflow dominated and linear by the time we intercepted, and needless to say there was nothing terribly impressive with that storm.

We did happen to see some straight-line wind damage in the McLean, Illinois area on the way home. This damage was produced by the northern flank of the squall line.

 

[Kevin Crawmer]

I went on a solo chase manned with a Blackberry Pearl, Gazetteer, Scanner (with dead batteries and power cord on my dresser), and a camera. I went north on Hwy 61 in Missouri from Troy and intercepted the Tornado Warned storm in Ralls County just north of Bowling Green. I saw a meso with some straited features and a nice hard bottom to it. This storm produced tornado damage very close to where I was at, but I did not see any evidence of one. I really didn't want to venture too far into the rain currents "blind".

After that storm passed and headed toward the Mississippi River I decided to cut back south towards Troy. I saw another nice updraft base with some scud. I was trying to catch up to it and didn't have time to stop and observe for rotation. I lost a visual of it for a few miles because of some trees and then watched that area cross right in front of me. I saw what I thought was a disapating tornado cross about a 1/4 mile in front of me, but I could not verify since there were some crazy wind whipped rain currents in that mess and it flew past fairly quickly. I didn't call it in because I lacked confidence in what I saw, but the timing and location meshed up pretty well with where the storm would have passed that had the tornado that destroyed a barn northwest of Troy. There was minimal wind tree damage along the highway, but it could have been caused by the gust front.

All in all a nice way to spend a December Saturday morning. I probably can't count what I saw today to my "total", but I have my suspicions nonetheless. I definitely need to be more prepared since there technically isn't an "off-season".

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

Well a nice local event for me as well.. I ventured out about 3AM to look at some things rolling into Western IL, some Tor warned cells.. So foggy it made it hard to even drive lol, and I eventually just headed back home.. Began my shift at 8 AM and was able to get out at 11 for an hour to chase. Headed southeast out of Macomb. Did have a very distant lowering, on the southern flank of the cell that rolled through. Was going on cell phone low res radar. As I neared this lowering I ran into a road that dead ended with no warning.. As I was stopped, waiting, a nice small vortex appeared out in front of me.. Plenty of leaves and corn shucks were sucked up to show the voritices moving across the field. It took down some power lines and some large limbs as I watched.. By this time it was time to bail and venture back to work... Soon after, I got a call saying the storm had developed 3 meso's and a TVS, and was soon Tor Warned by ILX..

Would be bummed if this was may, but will certainly take it in December!! Helped the SDS thats for sure, and got to toy with new camera!

Pix Here www.vortexventurers.com/blog

 

[John Farley]

Well, since there is no DISC thread and since I was mobile, I will add what I saw here, even though I wasn't really chasing. My wife and I intercepted the squall line between Greenville and Highland, near the Madison-Bond Co., IL line. We were nearing the end of a long 2-day drive from the Hartford, CT area and Edwardsville and too tired to really chase, but we met the line a few minutes after the SVR warning for Madison and Bond Counties expired at 2:30. There was a long and rather low but not particularly impressive shelf cloud, but the rain and wind behind it were sufficiently intense that we and many others pulled off I-70 for 15 minutes or so. At this time the line segment in that area was taking on more of a NE-SW orientation so the storms were beginning to train, resulting in a rather prolonged period of heavy rain and wind. I would estimate the peak gusts at our location at 50 mph or a little higher. Radar indicated 1.5-3 inches of rain over most of Bond Co., with widespread measurements of around 1.8 over the STL area and a bit over 3 in Belleville, IL. Due to the training, the heaviest band of rain, around 3 inches, stretched from St. Clair Co. northeastward through Bond Co., with the place we stopped just on the NW edge of this band.

BTW, in reference to an earlier comment about the storms lacking thunder, that was not the case in Madison Co. Though I did not see lightning or hear thunder at the height of the squall line's passage where we pulled off the freeway (though there may have been some; the rain and wind were LOUD), we did hear several long rumbles of thunder from the south in rather rapid succession shortly after arriving home. This seems to have been about when the storms pulsed up again to our south near Sparta, IL, resulting in a TOR warning and several reports of wind damage northeastward from there.

 

[Danny Neal]

Report HERE - Same boat as John. Not really a chase (had no desire to for such a marginal setup up here) so just waited for the weakening line to hit me. It was a good chance for me to try out my new HD cam.

 

[Terry Tyler]

it was a poor day in my opinion, but it is what it is...i woke up about 3AM and started driving towards eastern, AR...after watching the storms the night before and reading everyones opinions on the set-up i really didnt want to go...with that said i did anyway at the last minute, figured it was the last one of the year and would be a good chance to see how the equipment would work or what kinds of limitations i could expect...

long and short of it, i drove around most of east central AR waiting on a storm to form ahead of the line which never happened...about the time TOR warnings started coming out for the segment in southern, MO i decided it was time to head up there...i headed for a town called donophan, but quit driving there because it was nothing but hills and my internet would not work...it was so hilly, i counted like a 50 foot drop in elevation from the peak of one, to the valley...

when it occured to me about 2PM that there would be no bonafide storm development, and the line itself was starting to die i decided to leave...i figured i would ride the line home and see what kind of severe it was capable of...probably the longest time ive spend in a severe warning, as the line was warned the whole way home...

thats what she looked like, elevated and not very intimidating...no lightning, and not alot of wind until the shelf cloud passed over...this photo and the previous one were taken in tuckerman, AR...

the line became warned, and maintained a warning the whole way back to saltillo...personally, i think there was a bit of abuse on those severe warnings that were more then 25miles across at some points...i rode the line back with me all the way from newport letting it come right over me sometimes...in the heart of the severe warning, even in the strongest cores the winds were only about 40-50 mph id estimate...

coming out of the downdraft looking ESE...it was a weak storm, and i was dissapointed after the whole day spent driving...she was beautiful though, and i did get some pretty decent photos i guess so it wasnt a total loss...the visual appearance and winds reminded me alot of 4/25/07 in leflore county...

 

[Michael Carlson]

Well 2000 miles and a few fast racing storms in Northern Tex. for myself and my brother. My thoughts behind this chase were, its on my birthday and its probably going to be a one time event for this time of the year. So we decided to head down and see what we could get. We targeted Gainesville Tex. and sat there till the cold front arrived then chased it as it ran east. We tried to get some hail but little to nothing fell.

SHERMAN Tex. Dec 27, 2008 - A fast racing cold front moved though the early morning hours of northern Tex. and brought rain hail and high winds. The main tornado threat never evolved in northern Tex. but many locals got an early morning view of spring weather.
More Photos & Report

 

[Kurt Hulst]

South of Chicago, IL

My wife and I visited family in Wheaton, IL this weekend, so my chase chances were limited to nonexistent. Any way I woke up at 1am (CST) Saturday morning. I knew there was a TOR watch to my south so since i couldn't sleep i got up and checked the radar. Some nice storms racing towards Chicago. I ended up heading south on I-55 and caught the only sever warned storm in the area SE of Joliet. I had a GR3 screen grab but I misplaced it.

The cloud deck was no more than 200 ft above the ground and the storm motion was b/w 55-65mph. I wanted to atempt taking lighting shots. The wind, rain, and storm motion made it impossible. I did capture 2 bolts but they are so small, its pointless to count them. So I came away empty handed but it was a nice chase and i was able to test out the Alltel internet this weekend. Worked pretty well. I was able to see some good lightning, though I did not capture the best bolts. Definitely helped suffice my SDS for a little while. 60 degree temps beats the teens.

I reviewed some shot i had taken and was able to use a few shots. I wanted to post these just to help visualize the conditions i was working with.

Then I repositioned and caught a power flash over some small town.

 

[Brian Emfinger]

I did a little chase while working. I waited on the severe line of storms in Fort Smith, Arkansas and chased it east for about an hour or so to around Charleston, AR. Winds gusted to about 40 max. There were a few reports of down trees and street flooding but nothing major. I did go down to Heavener, OK later in the day to do a story about a guys detached garage that was lifted and tossed over his house (and impacted and damaged his roof) into some electrical/phone lines. Here are a couple pics of the severe line:

my time lapse camera caught the flood as well (pics are from previous day compared with next day high water level)

a few more pics