Danny Neal
EF5
Got a large tornado crossing I-55 near Litchfield, IL. Don't have video up, here is a pic of it crossing I 55 and just after..... Will have more pics and video later tonight.
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2011-04-19 REPORTS: IL/MO/OK/TX/AR
- Thread starter Danny Neal
- Start date
Rob Gardner
EF0
Also got the tornado from litchfield but from the west side, did appear to be multiple vortices for a short stent. Will upload pics and video as soon as I get home
Dan Robinson
EF5
Doyle McIntosh
I was on the same cell, I'm sick because somehow missed the tornado as we were positioned about a mile east of I55 (2 miles south of Raymond IL). I will post pictures when we get home.. Currently drivig through the MCS going through INDY.
Andy Jackson
EF3
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MikeWeingand
Congrats to all who scored along I-55 today. I however ended up having some issues in the Carlinville along route 108 area north of Litchfield when my gps completely stopped working and i lost my internet connection simultaneously. Ended up in Greene county and had to try and backtrack to catch up which was nearly impossible due to the incredibly heavy rain mixed in with hail. Needless to say I will be cancelling my iPhone tethering subscription and switching to Verizon as well as getting a new gps. Makes me sick to miss a tornado like that so close to home.
Bart_Comstock
EF5
I had an amazing day today! I was able to get on the Litchfeild, IL tornado today from the get go. Right now I am just trying to get my video up and together but I'll post a full report on here soon. Bellow you will find a screen grab from my stream today.
evan anderson
EF0
Watch video >
After sitting in Effingham, IL waiting for any storms to initiate (didn't happen) ended up near Litchfield, IL perhaps catching some early rotation between Carlinville, IL and Gillespie, IL. Followed it then mostly eastward (having timely lost the AT&T data connection), thru Litchfield after deciding against I55 North -- so missed any touchdowns that others managed to catch. Also quite the day to leave Chicago at 38f cloudy/rainy and 200 miles later experience 82f sunny (still in IL). P.S. Garmin GPS376 (XM WX) continued uninterrupted despite the AT&T data connection loss.
After sitting in Effingham, IL waiting for any storms to initiate (didn't happen) ended up near Litchfield, IL perhaps catching some early rotation between Carlinville, IL and Gillespie, IL. Followed it then mostly eastward (having timely lost the AT&T data connection), thru Litchfield after deciding against I55 North -- so missed any touchdowns that others managed to catch. Also quite the day to leave Chicago at 38f cloudy/rainy and 200 miles later experience 82f sunny (still in IL). P.S. Garmin GPS376 (XM WX) continued uninterrupted despite the AT&T data connection loss.
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Brad Emel
EF2
I caught the tornado North of Litchfield as well. My vantage point was looking NE at the tornado, from a few miles. I'm pretty sure others were a bit closer, but my video isn't bad.
Watch video >
Watch video >
Jason Boggs
Of course, nothing like what went on today in the midwest, but I did get in a little chase in the NW TX Panhandle. Here is a link to my blog with summary and chase photos: Desperate times, desperate measures!
Matt Hunt
EF3
I got my first tornado today! Finally! Got the same one as everyone else near Litchfield. I was quite a distance back, however, as I was originally going to go for the storm that ended up producing a tornado in Girard, but considering the amount of rain around it, I opted for the southern cell instead. When we got to 108 we were stuck behind a line of cars going 30 mph, but we were able to witness the entire life of the tornado. I only have really low quality video of it.
Danny Neal
EF5
As promised, video of the tornado in its entirety as it crossed I-55 near Litchfield.... full log later.
Skip Talbot
EF5
Jenn Brindley and I got an amazingly intense close encounter with a tornado near Girard, IL:
Jenn's stills will put that craptastic video capture to shame. After the tornado moved into the rain we tried to make a play on the Litchfield, IL storm that most of the folks above intercepted. We core punched the storm from the north and almost drove into the back of the tornado. Forward flank/rear flank inflow got incredibly intense, even more so than when we got the above shot and much like the hurricane video I've seen. With no visual and winds over 80 mph I'm guesstimating, we aborted our core punch and turned around and headed north out of the storm and called it a chase as everything congealed shortly afterward.
By far the closest I've ever been, with airborne debris whizzing past us in the field next to us. What a wild chase.
Jenn's stills will put that craptastic video capture to shame. After the tornado moved into the rain we tried to make a play on the Litchfield, IL storm that most of the folks above intercepted. We core punched the storm from the north and almost drove into the back of the tornado. Forward flank/rear flank inflow got incredibly intense, even more so than when we got the above shot and much like the hurricane video I've seen. With no visual and winds over 80 mph I'm guesstimating, we aborted our core punch and turned around and headed north out of the storm and called it a chase as everything congealed shortly afterward.
By far the closest I've ever been, with airborne debris whizzing past us in the field next to us. What a wild chase.
John Farley
Supporter
I managed to get on one of the best storms of the day, but once I did, poor chase strategy proved costly. About 3 miles south of Hillview, IL, I intercepted the storm that produced giant 4.5 inch hail near Clarksville, MO and, later, the Girard, IL tornado. Here is what the storm looked like when I intercepted it:
Unfortunately, my choice to go west from White Hall to Hillview proved a big mistake when the storm turned hard right and I had to go south from Hillview for an intercept, leaving me without a good east option. Roaming the jungles east of the Illinois River flats left me behind the storm and unable to keep up, costing me a good view of the Girard tornado and any view of the Litchfield one, though I did briefly see the wall cloud before it disappeared behind rain from another storm that cropped up. Think I may have caught a brief view of the Girard tornado before it disappeared in the rain, but can't say for sure; driving in the rain I couldn't get a picture.
All in all, a difficult chase - too many storms and moving too fast to catch up after my initial error - and WAY too much driving in hail. Hail was about as widespread as I have ever seen it - must have driven in it for 40 miles. Did get some good hail video in Carlinville and near Marine. Full report with video forthcoming when I get time.
Unfortunately, my choice to go west from White Hall to Hillview proved a big mistake when the storm turned hard right and I had to go south from Hillview for an intercept, leaving me without a good east option. Roaming the jungles east of the Illinois River flats left me behind the storm and unable to keep up, costing me a good view of the Girard tornado and any view of the Litchfield one, though I did briefly see the wall cloud before it disappeared behind rain from another storm that cropped up. Think I may have caught a brief view of the Girard tornado before it disappeared in the rain, but can't say for sure; driving in the rain I couldn't get a picture.
All in all, a difficult chase - too many storms and moving too fast to catch up after my initial error - and WAY too much driving in hail. Hail was about as widespread as I have ever seen it - must have driven in it for 40 miles. Did get some good hail video in Carlinville and near Marine. Full report with video forthcoming when I get time.
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Joel Wright
EF5
By the time we got to the cell that dropped the Bowling Green tornado it was too late, but we eventually made up for it by getting on the Carlinville/Litchfield storm. We stayed just east of the rear flank core so we managed to get a nicely contrasted look at it.
