2026-04-03 REPORTS: MO/IL

[Dan Robinson]

Targeted the Quincy area today. Ended up on the western of two supercells at Havana. I didn't see a tornado today (at least I don't think so), but this was a quality chase with the #1 structure I've seen in the Midwest, and lightning that cooperated with *two* close strikes with incredible effects and finally catching the lightning "attachment" process at 6k fps (upward/downward leader connection).









Chase log is here:

March-April 2026 Storm Chasing Recap

stormhighway.com

Video:

 

[Dan Ross]

Regarding that "dirt explosion" bolt in your video - I can hear a little snap sound at the moment of the strike, which would mean whatever produced it would be extremely close by (no time delay). I once experienced the same phenomenon with a scary close strike. There was a 'snap' at the moment of the strike, followed by a huge boom from the bolt a fraction of a second later. I hypothesized that maybe a failed streamer coming up from the ground nearby might create a snap sound like that. Does that sound plausible to you? Have you experienced this snap-boom combo on any other occasions?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Though it could be from an upward leader, I believe it comes from inductive current-induced sparking on power lines. I've heard similar sounds many times from them. Some of the bigger high-tension lines, like the ones across from the Arch in St. Louis, will make buzzing and snapping sounds with every nearby or overhead flash. In that first CG to the power lines, the flashover (power line current arc across an insulator) occurred on a separate set of lines across the road. The flashover itself is started by a small spark that jumps across insulators during a nearby or direct strike, and I think that is what is making that snapping sound in most cases.

Even overhead "anvil crawlers" produce a high electric field on ground-based objects that can produce small sparks. I've felt this twice in my years while shooting lightning photos in the form of hair raising during an overhead flash.

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Was also on the same cell as Dan. Started over by Camp Point, waiting for the cells to organize. Noted an uptick in lightning as the cells started to get their act together. One of the bolts hit less than 100 yards from our vehicle, easily. We hadn’t set up the cameras yet, but this was a startling experience and was quite dramatic. Needless to stay I decided to stay in the vehicle for the near future on this chase.

This was followed by a decrease in lightning activity as we followed them up the Illinois River on 24. Got east of the river at Havana and had to core punch the now tornado warned supercell. Picked up golfball size hail and winds to at least 60 mph, which brought up concerns for the glass in our vehicle, but we made it out of the core unscathed. The structure was pretty good for early April in Illinois. We also saw one likely funnel cloud, did not note any ground circulation, and it dissipated rather fast.




As the cell got east of the 155 corridor they started to lose their organization and the hail core died off, so we called it and was back in Galesburg by 9pm.