• After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.

    I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.

    For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.

    From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.

    Sincerely, Jeff D.

1996-04-19: Illinois Tornado Outbreak

Joined
Dec 4, 2003
Messages
1,699
Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan
April 19, 1996 tornado outbreak in Illinois.

Chased that day, saw the F3 south of Urbana and
somehow manage to barely see the F3 in Ogden
from a distance.

Savoy-Urbana tornado:
http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwevent~ShowEvent~254604

Ogden tornado:
http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwevent~ShowEvent~254607

Somewhere I have a video on this tornado buried
somewhere in my storage shed. Been poor most of
my life, only own a couple camcorders for a brief time.
Have not own a camcorder in many years.

More information on this outbreak:
http://redrock.ncsa.illinois.edu/~jewett/Apr19/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_1996_tornado_outbreak_sequence

Who else remember that day and chased that day.

Mike
 
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This was a fun day. I watched the lightning illuminated Urbana F3 pass just by my house from my back porch. You don't forget a sight like that!

Level 2 radar grab during the Urbana F3:

3924392347_043184203a_b.jpg


Another supercell produced some prolific wedges just north of the well known Interstate 72 supercell. This guy produced a wedge near Havana early in the evening:

3925179056_050cf55aea.jpg


Bill Gargan caught this one from the above supercell near Easton, IL.

easton5t.jpg
 
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Was huddled up in my hallway while we got pelted with golf ball size hail in north champaign... Had relitives in savoy and urbana so visited the damage path the next day, could have been alot worse, the Urbana tornado skipped up and down a lot...
 
I was little back then. I remember my father running up stairs when he heard ESDA say there was a tornado at Rt-130 and Washington st (1.5 miles to our west). Guess he wanted to see what would take the house, but I was terrified. Thats not where the tornado was, but he did see a funnel. Anyone else see that?

My aunt, uncle and two cousins live on the western fringe of Ogden. Their house sustained about $8,000 damage while the house next door (20ft away) was pretty much destroyed. Glad the death toll wasn't higher on this day. People payed attention to the warnings back then!

This was the tornado that kick-started my interest in severe weather and tornadoes. Usually how it goes, right?
 
This was the first high risk event I watched and documented, though it was from afar and via local news. I was 14 and living in Indiana. One particular supercell crossed central Indiana along the I-70 corridor. It was only responsible for one tornado as I recall, but was a very prolific hailer.

I still have the news coverage from that evening.
http://youtu.be/znvm20gymn0
 
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