Dan Rupnow
EF1
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2008
- Messages
- 78
Headed back to Iowa looking for redemption as I had just busted there 5 days prior. The setup this day looked fairly promising in the days leading up to it, and in typical midwest fashion, the big question would be whether morning precip would spoil the show. By late morning, it was becoming apparent that central IA would clear out and insolation would commence, so westward I went.
My target area was along the Hwy 20 corridor in central IA for late afternoon supercells to form near the warm front/outflow boundary. A bit west of Waterloo, I had a decision to make. Storms had recently initiated in the area, and I could either go south to a more messy complex of updrafts that already had tornado warnings, or go north to a nicely isolated cell in it's infancy. I had some reservations about going north, as I knew that area didn't get as much sunshine as further south, but looking at sfc obs I decided that the area had destabilized enough to "get it done", plus I'm a sucker for discrete convection, so I set my crosshairs on the north cell.
Upon arrival to the area of interest west of Shell Rock I was treated to very strong rotation, and I immediately got the "it's about to happen" feeling. Sure enough, a few minutes later the storm produced it's first of multiple tornadoes as I followed it to near Klinger.
Stopped for a celebratory steak dinner in Dubuque, and then let the line chase me the rest of the way back home while treated to spectacular anvil crawlers! This day was just what I needed after such a dismal Spring that had me go as far as Montana for just two distant tornadoes, plus I believe it's always more rewarding to score the more difficult to forecast tornadoes that occur outside of the traditional Spring season!
My target area was along the Hwy 20 corridor in central IA for late afternoon supercells to form near the warm front/outflow boundary. A bit west of Waterloo, I had a decision to make. Storms had recently initiated in the area, and I could either go south to a more messy complex of updrafts that already had tornado warnings, or go north to a nicely isolated cell in it's infancy. I had some reservations about going north, as I knew that area didn't get as much sunshine as further south, but looking at sfc obs I decided that the area had destabilized enough to "get it done", plus I'm a sucker for discrete convection, so I set my crosshairs on the north cell.
Upon arrival to the area of interest west of Shell Rock I was treated to very strong rotation, and I immediately got the "it's about to happen" feeling. Sure enough, a few minutes later the storm produced it's first of multiple tornadoes as I followed it to near Klinger.
![b4Tz0iz.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fb4Tz0iz.jpg&hash=64e12d32ccfaacb2d115af7d568c2036)
![d7nVXpu.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fd7nVXpu.jpg&hash=59592c4b4a6e52ea3dd0057828042642)
![yesUegg.jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FyesUegg.jpg&hash=1990578e81eb10956994700b058a0fba)
Stopped for a celebratory steak dinner in Dubuque, and then let the line chase me the rest of the way back home while treated to spectacular anvil crawlers! This day was just what I needed after such a dismal Spring that had me go as far as Montana for just two distant tornadoes, plus I believe it's always more rewarding to score the more difficult to forecast tornadoes that occur outside of the traditional Spring season!