2015-05-05 REPORTS: IL

[chrisbray]

I know anyone lucky enough to be in TX today will post a report at some point, so I will include them.
I don't have much to report per say, but as I was getting off work around 4:30 I noticed a sever warned storm complex moving in to my county in Illinois, so I said screw it, I'll drive 15 minutes in to the countryside and see what happens.

By the time the storm got close, the severe warning was dropped but I could see a gust front emerging. It was nice to just relax in front of a beautiful storm for a bit and know there was no immediate threat. I repositioned a bit to the north and east to avoid the rain, and watched the front come in again.

IMG_0255 by inflow55, on Flickr

Just a couple shots with the iPhone. There was hardly even a noticeable wind shift behind the front after I let it pass over me. On the way back, I did drive through the core and encounter some pea to blueberry sized hail briefly. Then I grabbed some tacos and called it a night!

 

[Jeff Duda]

STAFF NOTE: Since we had two threads for today pop up at almost the same time and for areas largely separated in space, we will go with two different threads for the day, one for the upper Midwest and one for the southern Plains. Please place reports accordingly.

 

[kevin-palmer]

I was hoping somebody would start this thread for Illinois. Early yesterday afternoon I noticed that there was decent cape (2500) to my north along with 35 knots of bulk shear. After I left the house at 3pm the SPC placed North Central Illinois under a marginal risk. A lot of small storms fired at once. But after a short time one of them became stronger than the others. So I met that storm near Washburn. For most of the storms life it was showing weak rotation on radar.

This was taken right before pea-sized hail started falling while there was a constant rumble of thunder overhead.


Before the Hail by kevin-palmer, on Flickr

Just west of Benson the storm was at it's strongest. There was just enough wind shear to create some interesting structure and make this a very photogenic storm. I couldn't detect any rotation visually.


Benson Barn by kevin-palmer, on Flickr


Where the Rain Falls by kevin-palmer, on Flickr

After I got ahead of the storm again I realized it was starting to shrink and weaken. But I liked this view where I could see the entire updraft a couple miles away.


Shrinking Updraft by kevin-palmer, on Flickr

This was after I let the storm go.


Dying Cumulonimbus by kevin-palmer, on Flickr

Overall this was a fun little chase close to home. The storms were not moving fast and were easy to keep up with. The storm I was on never went severe-warned. I went out with low expectations. It was a good reminder that a storm doesn't have to be severe to be photogenic.