Jarrod Cook
EF2
Surprised no one has started a thread on this day, so I'll go ahead. 6 years ago from today, MO and IL were rocked by a tornado outbreak. I saw my first tornado on this day. Myself and a couple other chasers left Rockford at 8 am and drove to NE MO. Got there just in time as a broken line of supercells were marching northeast. The first one that passed us to the north did not produce much, but we saw another one coming from the Southwest both visually, and on our 9" color TV with news break-ins that looked promising. This storm formed its tornado right near Monroe City, and we were extremely close it it when it formed, and had to bolt eastward to get a better view and to get out of its path. It quickly turned into a beefy wedge that produced F3 damage. It continued on to Palmyra as it roped out and crossed rt. 24. At this point we had to get across the river, and thus lost the storm. Got on a couple other storms on the IL side with rotating wall clouds, but nothing more.
The broken supercells continued to produce in IL, with some local chasers seeing the South Pekin tornado.
Tornado just forming and crossing US24/36 near Monroe City:
View from the rear window as we drove east:
F3 at this point:
Crossing US24 south of Palmyra, MO:
LSX summary for this tornado: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/event/5-10-03/tor_trac_1.php
LSX event summary: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/event/5-10-03/5-10-03.php
The broken supercells continued to produce in IL, with some local chasers seeing the South Pekin tornado.
Tornado just forming and crossing US24/36 near Monroe City:
View from the rear window as we drove east:
F3 at this point:
Crossing US24 south of Palmyra, MO:
LSX summary for this tornado: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/event/5-10-03/tor_trac_1.php
LSX event summary: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lsx/event/5-10-03/5-10-03.php
