12/31/10 REPORTS: IL/MO/AR/MS

[Adam Lucio]

Not much to report on my end but I did run after some tornado warned storms an hour south of home which is pretty sweet considering the time of year!

http://aerostorms.com/123110-new-years-eve-tornado-outbreak.php

I love IL terrain!

 

[Nick Nolte]

Oh yeah, forgot about making a report post!

I kind of did with my other thread regarding the "mysterious" feature I filmed along the river basin in Pike County, IL which is in this thread: http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26300

I actually planned ahead for this one and spent Thursday night in Jacksonville, IL. The following morning I drove to Pleasant Hill, IL rather early where I intercepted, at around 10:30am CST, what I guess was a northern tail end charlie as the line was broken into two distinct lines at around that point. That's where I filmed the river fog being pulled into the storm's updraft in the aforementioned thread. In the attached radar grab you can see my location as the little red dot ENE of the TVS marker that is right on the river.

More details, photos and the videos are on mah blog
http://www.nicknoltewx.com/blog/2011/01/02/december-31-2010-illinois/

Definitely a fun way to close out 2010!

 

[Winston Wells]

Thanks, Adam, for starting this thread. I had expected most of the action this day to fire to my southwest in central Missouri, so I was surprised to see that several line segments entering west-central Illinois were already TOR-warned by mid-morning. I headed west on I-72 out of Jacksonville, IL and intercepted the line just north of the IL 100 exit. (This was a bit north and east of Nick Nolte's location in the previous post).

I then headed back east on I-72 into Jacksonville and watched the line - once again TOR-warned - pass through town. Given the speedy storm motions, I called it a day, but I really enjoyed this gentleman's chase on New Year's Eve!

The segment that passed through Jacksonville raced off to the northeast, where it later produced the Lake Petersburg EF3 tornado:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/?n=LakePetersburgTornado31Dec2010

The first picture, taken from IL 100 in Scott County, shows a bit of structure and looks to the southwest. The second picture looks west and was taken from the fairgrounds on the west side of Jacksonville.

 

[Trey Alvey]

28storms intercepted the tornadic supercell that prompted a tornado emergency for the Jackson Metro area. Fortunately, no injuries were reported with this particular storm. The tornado was a 1/2 mile wide EF2 and was on the ground for over 40 minutes. The video below is extended footage from the intercept.

The first 10 seconds show the emergence of a rapidly developing funnel to the Southwest of Terry (only minutes later a tornado was on the ground).

Watch video >

The mesocyclone quickly tightened up as it nearly paralleled the interstate. Poor visibility made it nearly impossible to see a circulation; and furthermore, the tornado quickly became rainwrapped. A pronounced clear slot/rfd cut is noted in the next portion of the footage. As we realized it was rainwrapped, we exited off Interstate 55 in Byram. Meanwhile, the tornado was passing just to our west and eventually our north. We quickly relayed multiple reports to the NWS of damaging winds and structural damage.

Here are radar grabs as the tornado passed Byram, MS at its maximum size and intensity

The event as a whole has certainly raised some questions. While tornado warnings were issued with ample lead time, the majority of those caught in the tornado on the interstate had no idea. How can the NWS, broadcast media, and Emergency management better disseminate warnings especially to those not at home? Would improved warnings have helped people get off the roads in advance or would people go about their daily lives with disregard to the warnings? Also, how can weather offices better forecast winter severe weather outbreaks and make the public more aware (particularly a couple days in advance)?

Complete write up of the event here: http://28storms.com/

 

[Danny Neal]

http://northernilstormchaser.com/December-31st,-2010---IL-winter-chase.php - I thought I would throw up my chase. I am too ashamed to post pictures in the reports thread! But for December 31st I will gladly take 50's with tornado warned thunderstorms in EC IL over 25 inches of snow and -40 wind chills!!!

 

[Skip Talbot]

Well, I didn't even bother taking any photos on this chase, if that tells you something about how it went. I headed south out of Chicago down 55 and intercepted a tornado warned storm near Pontiac that was sporting grey on grey: a precip core with a rather short and grungy forward flanking base. I got a smattering of small hail as I approached it from the north and let the core overtake me hoping to spot something embedded within as that's where the circulation would have have been if there was one. Chasing a tornado warned storm is not how I expected to spend my new year's eve, however. My chase log if anyone is interested:
http://www.skip.cc/chase/101231

...and I'm completely caught up for the year on logs too:
http://www.skip.cc/chase/2010.shtml

 

[Bart_Comstock]

I followed behind the Cincinnati, Ar storm after waking up to the sound of a tornado warning coming over my weather radio and a very close CG to my place in Tulsa. After being held up by construction on the Muskogee Turnpike I gave up on trying to catch up with the storm and settled for watching the light show from Wagoner. Thanks to the terrain and road network I knew there wasn't anyway I was going to catch the storm but as I sat just east of town I was surprised to see just how electrified the storm became as it crossed into Arkansas.

Really I didn't take these early storms too serious since I didn't have data in the car and it was so early in the morning. Knowing what I know now I may have tried to keep up my pursuit. That said, there is no way I would have been able to follow it into the Mark Twain I likely chose the right place to stop. Furthermore it would have been too risky thanks to the hills and trees and the fact the tornado was likely wrapped in rain.

 

[Paul Hadfield]

I targeted what would become the Petersburg storm while it was still in Morgan county by heading NE through Logan county. Catching it a few minutes after producing, I was able to document the most significant area of interest. Full report HERE.

 

[Carla Bisby]

I chased locally in St. Louis and saw the Fenton/Sunset Hills tornado but wasn't positive at the time whether it was on the ground or not, visibility through the rain being so poor. Didn't take any pics or video for the same reason.

 

[Andy Wycislo]

I was about 20 minutes too late getting to Springfield to get over to Petersburg. Followed that cell up along I-55 to Bloomington, but it was giving out by then. Better luck next time.