2011-08-13 REPORTS: IL

[John Farley]

I intercepted 3 very photogenic storms today in and near Macoupin County, IL. The cold front was diffuse enough to keep the storms from lining out as they usually do with cold fronts in IL, and the storms stayed nicely discrete. Additionally, the lack of the usual haze along with the slightly high-based nature of the storms made them very photogenic. Here are a few pics:

Wall cloud from about 20 miles away (taken with zoom lens) looking NW from Farmersville, IL, 4:10 pm. This was the first of the 3 storms I was on. This was the most intense of the three storms and produced hail ranging from dime to golfball size.

Panorama of second storm, near Litchfield, IL around 5:40 p.m.

Third storm with rainbow. Picture was taken from between Gillespie and Litchfield, IL around 6:10 p.m. as the storm produced heavy rain and small hail in Litchfield.

More pictures can be seen at http://www.johnefarley.com/chase81311.htm. I will post a full report to that site as time permits.

Edit, 8/14: Full report is now online at the link just above.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Nice work! I watched those storms on radar and opted not to go after them, as it looked like they wouldn't last long enough for me to get up there in time. That first storm hooked in and turned right on radar, nice to see what it looked like visually! I was able to salvage the night just before starting work with a couple of distant lightning/Cb/moonlight shots:

http://stormhighway.com/blog2011/aug1411a.shtml

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

Had a nice backyard outing as well around the Champaign-Urbana area.

Full write up here: http://prairiestorm.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-13th-incredible-sky.html

One of the cooler things I spotted, was this little nub funnel / swirl in a lone cumulus cloud directly overhead on the back side of the thunderstorm complex.