chrisbray
EF4
I had my eye on Wednesday for a while, but hadn't really planned on chasing as my usual partner was unavailable and it seemed to be setting up too far north/west for my taste on a workday. However, as I sat down to work that day and looked at the trends, I liked what the RAP/HRRR showed for parameters in Eastern Iowa/NW Illinois around the quad cities area. HRRR in particular was very consistent in showing some high Updraft Helicity track coming from a few storms that fired in very good parameter space crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois. I figured, what the heck, I can drive 2.5 hours for one last chance to salvage what has been a pretty dull and disappointing chase season for me.
I left Bourbonnais around 1:30, gassed up and headed west on I80. As I progressed West, I occasionally stopped to look at data/gas up etc. It seemed the HRRR had started to change it's mind about the coverage and intensity of storms and I started get really flustered, but pressed on. By the time I got into Iowa, a line of tornadic supercells was well underway from Southwest Iowa towards Des Moines, while more storms were ongoing in North/Northeastern Iowa and trekking into the Wisconsin/Far NW Illinois area. I dabbled around the quad cities for a while, and eventually started to head west more on I-80.
When I reached the Iowa City area, it was as far west as I really wanted to go. Any farther and I wouldn't be getting home until after midnight. But the storms weren't even past Des Moines yet. I was sure this just another frustrating bust in a frustrating chase season. I had been dragged into Iowa for nothing, once again! I noticed a few storms starting to develop about 20 or so miles to the north and decided I may as well take a gamble on them developing in a favorable environment, rather than press farther west/wait on the storms moving from Des Moines. If that failed, it would be better to head home at that point.
I took I380 north and tried to find my way past Cedar Rapids so I could be in a good spot to intercept if the storm kept strengthening. As I struggled to get to the Northeast side of the city and into open country, my occasional glances at radar revealed developing rotation.
IMG_0096 by chris bray, on Flickr
IMG_0097 by chris bray, on Flickr
I finally broke through and was headed north for the intercept, and as the storm came in to view I was in total disbelief. This was already a fully mature supercell with a large, low hanging wall cloud.
[Broken External Image]:http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/V1G5j.../p/V1G5jb][attach=full]16149[/attach]P6280454 by chris bray, on Flickr
I continued the pursuit and found a road that was a direct intercept route. I can't tell exactly when the tornado "dropped" due to trees/hills, but here is my video as I approached it from the South (sorry I don't have any kind of dash mount in my vehicle so I had to handhold my camera in one hand and drive with the other)
At this point I was in complete disbelief as large, swirling cloud mass reach out at the ground below, merely a couple miles dead ahead to my North. As the road approached a river crossing, I realized this might be my best chance to get video of this monster, as the map showed the roads getting wonky by the river. I got as close as I could, and pulled over with an amazing view of the tornado on the other side of the river valley. (Note I didn't have time to set up a tripod so I apologize for some shakiness on the video.)
P6280460 by chris bray, on Flickr
After a few minutes of video, pictures and gawking at the incredible storm, I decided to try and follow it. Ultimately I was able to catch back up to the storm after 5 or so minutes on a winding road down in the river valley without any line of sight, but the original circulation had become completely rain wrapped, and soon began to weaken as a new circulation started up on the southern flank of the storm. I followed it due east, tailing it be a couple miles, and thought a new tornado would drop at any moment. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I followed the storm to Monticello, but ultimately let it go as it weakened.
New storms approached my area, but never organized in the same fashion. I decided to give a shot at a storm moving in from the southwest that had rotation and tornado warnings, following it to Maqueoketa with the warning stating "confirmed tornado", but I was never able to see any of them, if they existed. Once I arrived at the town, it became clear pursuing it was not working out, and darkness was fast settling in, so I called the chase and prepared for the 3.5 hour drive home. For me, this chase absolutely MADE the 2017 season, a year I was certain I would only look back on as the worst I had experienced.
I left Bourbonnais around 1:30, gassed up and headed west on I80. As I progressed West, I occasionally stopped to look at data/gas up etc. It seemed the HRRR had started to change it's mind about the coverage and intensity of storms and I started get really flustered, but pressed on. By the time I got into Iowa, a line of tornadic supercells was well underway from Southwest Iowa towards Des Moines, while more storms were ongoing in North/Northeastern Iowa and trekking into the Wisconsin/Far NW Illinois area. I dabbled around the quad cities for a while, and eventually started to head west more on I-80.
When I reached the Iowa City area, it was as far west as I really wanted to go. Any farther and I wouldn't be getting home until after midnight. But the storms weren't even past Des Moines yet. I was sure this just another frustrating bust in a frustrating chase season. I had been dragged into Iowa for nothing, once again! I noticed a few storms starting to develop about 20 or so miles to the north and decided I may as well take a gamble on them developing in a favorable environment, rather than press farther west/wait on the storms moving from Des Moines. If that failed, it would be better to head home at that point.
I took I380 north and tried to find my way past Cedar Rapids so I could be in a good spot to intercept if the storm kept strengthening. As I struggled to get to the Northeast side of the city and into open country, my occasional glances at radar revealed developing rotation.


I finally broke through and was headed north for the intercept, and as the storm came in to view I was in total disbelief. This was already a fully mature supercell with a large, low hanging wall cloud.
[Broken External Image]:http://[url=https://flic.kr/p/V1G5j.../p/V1G5jb][attach=full]16149[/attach]P6280454 by chris bray, on Flickr
I continued the pursuit and found a road that was a direct intercept route. I can't tell exactly when the tornado "dropped" due to trees/hills, but here is my video as I approached it from the South (sorry I don't have any kind of dash mount in my vehicle so I had to handhold my camera in one hand and drive with the other)
At this point I was in complete disbelief as large, swirling cloud mass reach out at the ground below, merely a couple miles dead ahead to my North. As the road approached a river crossing, I realized this might be my best chance to get video of this monster, as the map showed the roads getting wonky by the river. I got as close as I could, and pulled over with an amazing view of the tornado on the other side of the river valley. (Note I didn't have time to set up a tripod so I apologize for some shakiness on the video.)

After a few minutes of video, pictures and gawking at the incredible storm, I decided to try and follow it. Ultimately I was able to catch back up to the storm after 5 or so minutes on a winding road down in the river valley without any line of sight, but the original circulation had become completely rain wrapped, and soon began to weaken as a new circulation started up on the southern flank of the storm. I followed it due east, tailing it be a couple miles, and thought a new tornado would drop at any moment. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I followed the storm to Monticello, but ultimately let it go as it weakened.
New storms approached my area, but never organized in the same fashion. I decided to give a shot at a storm moving in from the southwest that had rotation and tornado warnings, following it to Maqueoketa with the warning stating "confirmed tornado", but I was never able to see any of them, if they existed. Once I arrived at the town, it became clear pursuing it was not working out, and darkness was fast settling in, so I called the chase and prepared for the 3.5 hour drive home. For me, this chase absolutely MADE the 2017 season, a year I was certain I would only look back on as the worst I had experienced.