WOW!!!!!!!!!
As sheer coincidence would happen I was with my chase partner in Davenport for what was going to be a meeting with storm spotters in the Quad Cities, IL area. This is a detailed account and summary of what we experienced. Photos to follow later. The Chase Team that had to quickly get going was myself and Jacki Earnest, nowcasted by Daniel Earnest.
At around 10 in the morning the day started as drab as possible. 49 degrees and moderate rain, lots of stratus. In fact, we had just joked about going on a successful "stratus chase", and thought that would be the only excitement we would get out of the day......
We went to the public library to check on data and forecasts. There was, as noted, no indications at all we were to go to Illinois.... we thought the warm front would get close to our region but not quite make it through....... the NWS had no indication of severe wx in our area except for the "low probability" of such.... severe wx was possible to the south in Missouri, we contemplated heading south toward knoxville, Missouri...but based on the low probabilities we decided against it..
So.....we wasted time and basically just decided to enjoy the day until the stormspotter meeting. Until I looked outside and noticed the clouds were taking on "that look".
I said "That aint good" meaning "This is great". Immediately flicked on the NOAA Weather Radio to be surprised by a new SVR watch. We were ecstatic. Little did we know.....
We high tailed it to the library to get info.....and were we shocked to hear reports of a "Large Tornado" on the ground to our southeast. However, the tornadic storms were too far away to catch at that point, and it was getting later in the afternoon. So we targeted a strong storm developing just southeast of Iowa CIity, hoping we would get some show there.
We drove west on 6 to I 80 and noticed the clouds building dramatically, and soon a large anvil appeared. Turning north on 38, we were greeted with an awesome wall cloud to the north. We turned west on a county road and stopped to watch.
We were able to visually confirm a large bowl-shaped wall cloud. Also , a funnel rached down halfway to the ground at that point. We are terming this as a "possible tornado" due to its proximity to the ground and tohe fact we could not confirm a ground circulation. Soon, this and its parent accessory cloud dissipated....and we turned around and headed south to the tail end of this developing line.
WOW..
The most amazing, amazing shelf cloud was now in progress on what had evolved into a dramatio squall line. This baby was rolling...backlit by solid precipitation and isolated hail shafts, this was the sight to see. Once in a while a funnel-like vortex structure would form in the roll cloud. Little if any in the way of CG however alot of IC lightning.
AS the storms overtook us in that magic area between shelf cloud and precipitation, we were greeted to absolutely mezmerizing cloud turbulence as a result of the outflow. It was absolutely unworldly. Ive seen this before, but not this pronounced or well defined. AMAZING.
Heading back, we heard of more confirmed tornadoes to our east and were saddened that we missed some of the action. We were more saddened and angry that there were fatalities....no chaser in his or her right mind wants to hear that.
All in all a very successful chase with great pictures. We were treated well on this chase of April 20 in Eastern Iowa..
Jeff Miller/Jacki Earnest
J Squared Chase Team
www.ozark24.com
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