5/13/09 Reports: MO/IL/OK/KS

[jshields]

pics below are of nice wallcloud that developed about 5 miles south of kirksville(temporarily sidetracking me on my way to west of kirksville). also i've included video grabs of the backside of what i think is the rain wrapped tornado just after it crossed hwy 11 east of kirksville. the pic that dick mcgowan posted on the first page of the reports is the tornado crossing the highway.

 

[Paul Hadfield]

Congratulations to all who were out. Figured i'd try to wait for the better reports to come in before wasting anyone's time. As for Wednesday, my thinking was correct but timing was way off. Storms would fire over by the MS river, line out upon entry and dive S which they did but by about 4 hours later than anticipated. As result, I sat around for much of the afternoon enjoying blue sky over towards Jacksonville. Well before initiation, I saw some of your icons on the TVN site as sitting in Springfield and thought about coming by but decided against it. How weird would that be to have someone roll up on you after basically stalking you via the internet? Granted it's just me but still, that's just not cool. I'm sure there are yahoo's out there who not only utilize the convenience of data access in finding storms but also to know where the smart people are and use that to their advantage. Something to consider... If I meet someone in the field, I want it to be because I was thinking correctly and not leeching off a website icon.

MO cells as seen from Ashland.

So anyways, towards dusk I decided to zip up IL 125 towards Beardstown and await the infamous MO cell as it entered the state. I've never been in this area so it was a bit of a disappointment to get into hills and trees once well past Ashland. At Beardstown within just a few miles of TOR warning and nearly dark, instead of head down 103 for an intercept, I did the unthinkable... I turned around and left. I just wasn't about to chance hills and trees in uncharted territory at night. It seemed like the line was moving at a snails pace and by the time I made it back to Decatur around 10PM, the squall line was still W of Springfield. It seemed to accelerate upon reaching I-55 but from home I just stayed put. What happened next was a trip because for all the driving around six counties and wasting $20 in fuel not to mention a crap ass $4 Casey's turkey and cheese sandwich, the best score basically came from my front porch. The rest of the story with images can be found on my blog. Big thanks to Scott Miller for nowcasting in the dead zone between SPI and Beardstown (might've been an equipment issue) and to you Mike Weingand for the visuals on what I was aiming to catch before aborting

 

[Olivier Staiger]

Borat chasing

is this Borat chasing a storm???

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3a4_1242319398

HILLARIOUS !!!

The chaser becomes the chasee ...

 

[Jerry Funfsinn]

Edina Missouri tornado

I finally neared the Kirksville MO tornadic supercell about 8 miles west of Baring on SR 11 . I watched from a hilltop with a a good view of the storm but stayed a little to long. As the storm passed to my south, I decided to head east but was
nearly eaten by the "alligator" (GPS and camera timestamp 6:25 pm CDT). Choosing not to drive under that development was a good choice as tornadoes were reported minutes later. I quickly backed up on this road and turned around heading
west into the precip as to not drive into that unknown. When I thought it was safe I headed east again with no view except heavy rain. I finally made it out of the precip only to be greeted by a ground hugging wall cloud. As I headed
south on Rte 15 I asummed I was in the clear because I left the wall cloud behind me. While navigating my position I was startled by the sudden blast to my vehicle. Looking at the video at this time you can see the wind direction in the
trees change from blowing west into the storm and changing quickly to the east. At the time I wasn't sure if I was in a tornado or not. When I made it out of the circulation I looked off to the east to see wrapping rain curtains moving quickly
east. After looking at the damage survey and tornado track done by LSX, I'm convinced the tornado passed behind me as I drove south on rte 15 2.5 miles north of Edina.The tornadic encounter started just north of the Edina Resevoir
- SR AA/ Rte 15 intersection (GPS and camera timestamp 6:42 pm CDT)

Video - Edina, Missouri tornado

 

[Jeff Duda]

is this Borat chasing a storm???

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3a4_1242319398

HILLARIOUS !!!

The chaser becomes the chasee ...

Rather piss poor video resolution. No doubt he was taking the video using a cell phone. I can't believe you can even get decent video with a cell phone. Technology these days...whew!

On a side note (I'm aware I might get hammered for this), but I'm getting tired of people screaming, "I'm IN the tornado! It's going right over me! I'm inside the tornado!" in their chase videos. I have yet to see a video where someone was actually inside a tornado. Usually they're just on the outer edge of the circulation. If a tornado really went over someone (especially while they are in their car, as all the videos of people saying this are situated) then they probably wouldn't still be sitting there upright in their undamaged car. They'd probably be upside-down in a ditch with broken windows and possibly being injured. They were very close, sure, but not in.

 

[Bob Hartig]

I finally made it out of the precip only to be greeted by a ground hugging wall cloud. As I headed
south on Rte 15 I asummed I was in the clear because I left the wall cloud behind me. While navigating my position I was startled by the sudden blast to my vehicle. Looking at the video at this time you can see the wind direction in the
trees change from blowing west into the storm and changing quickly to the east. At the time I wasn't sure if I was in a tornado or not. When I made it out of the circulation I looked off to the east to see wrapping rain curtains moving quickly
east.

We were positioned on SR15 a couple miles north of Edina. Prior to losing radar updates, we had seen on GR3 what appeared to be a cell merger moving in, with two distinct areas of rotation. We pulled aside in a spot that offered a clear view of the storm and watched a wall cloud develop and form the "alligator" tail cloud you've mentioned in your complete post, but noticed rain wrapping northward behind that circulation. To me, that suggested a second mesocyclone, which proved to be the case. The second, broad circulation became visible a short while later and began putting down multiple vortices. Sounds like you got red herringed by the first wall cloud and almost got chewed by the second circulation.

 

[Danny Neal]

We were positioned on SR15 a couple miles north of Edina. Prior to losing radar updates, we had seen on GR3 what appeared to be a cell merger moving in, with two distinct areas of rotation. We pulled aside in a spot that offered a clear view of the storm and watched a wall cloud develop and form the "alligator" tail cloud you've mentioned in your complete post, but noticed rain wrapping northward behind that circulation. To me, that suggested a second mesocyclone, which proved to be the case. The second, broad circulation became visible a short while later and began putting down multiple vortices. Sounds like you got red herringed by the first wall cloud and almost got chewed by the second circulation.

You are correct Bob. I dunno if I should just post this in a discussion thread but you are absolutely right about that. The first wall cloud a little to our NW (we had a GREAT view from SR 15 just before it curved west next to some grain silos) produced 2 or 3 brief multiple vorticie spin ups. Starting from 6:29 PM to 6:32 PM. I am not sure if this was now an occluded meso or a meso from another storm. But as you hear in my video I thought I saw a "huge wedge" coming out of the rain behind the first circulation. (I was seeing reports of large tornado and seeing this large V shaped lowering wrapped in rain made my heart skip a beat) It turned out to be the next wall cloud/tornado. It was a large bowl shaped lowering with multiple vorticies that turned into a 3-4 minute cone/skinny stovepipe, that TOTALLY wrapped itself up in rain. In my video you can barely make it out in there and even my pictures you have to do some serious contrast editting to be able to see it.

I think you and I were maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile apart, we were further north and you were further south.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Norther...uthkey=Gv1sRgCN_vs8S5w9dx#5335581379765998178 - link to the actual fully condensed cone/pipe

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

Full report now up on my site: http://www.furiousskies.com/5_13_09.html

 

[jamesmseitz]

Everyone was at the same storm. This was my vantage point. We were 3 west of Novanger MO in Adair County

 

[Danny Neal]

http://northernilstormchaser.com/May-13th---Missouri-tornadoes.php - DONE!!!!

Did anyone else capture this tornado? It seems like everyone else was cut off by the RFD and missed out seeing the cone/stovepipe. I haven't seen any other video or pictures of this.

 

[Bob Hartig]

Your view is very similar to what we saw, Danny. I have video; it's just not very good (my videos to date have sucked, though my photos are improving) but I may put it out on YouTube anyway, just for the sake of comparing notes. Our vehicle and yours had to have been very close. We witnessed the cone/stovepipe, which rapidly got obscured in the rain curtain. I agree with your statement about the wall cloud being the last gasp of the eastern cell as it got absorbed by the Kirksville storm. It sure was a dramatic finish. The motion in the tail cloud was really something to see.

EDIT: Here is the YouTube link. Note: I kept incorrectly calling the tail cloud a beaver tail. I know the difference--just got my terminology mixed up.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Full log, pictures, and map:
http://www.skip.cc/chase/090513/

 

[scott r currens]

Brief Report:
Wednesday I ended my second longest tornado drought with two tornadoes in Northern Missouri. The first was a large cone that I only caught a distant glimpse of as I entered Kirksville, MO. The second was a large rain-wrapped tornado that must have lasted 25-minutes or more. On the NW side of town I setup shop and filmed the HP supercell and tornado for 15-minutes. I can’t remember the last time I got to sit in one spot and watch a tornado for 15-minutes. Although I did miss out on all the “near deathâ€￾ experiences that many chasers had with this tornado…maybe next time.

The tornado appeared to be heading straight for my location most of the time I was filming it. When the tornado was about two miles out it appeared to make a slight right turn that kept it to the south. At the same time it became completely obscured by rain so I bailed out to the north just to be sure. The damage path ended up being ¾ of a mile south of my original filming location. The damage path was impassable and pretty much ended the chase.

Tornado time-lapse & damage path video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPkL_o2VeFU

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://www.extremeinstability.com/09-5-13.htm

Account now up. Sweet time lapse btw Scott! The little bit north of me you were made a pretty fair difference on viewable structure.

 

[Eric Flescher]

Full account and vid clips of our close up view of Kirksville, MO tornado

(Sorry , I could not figure out how to just add the link so i am reposting it the full link where there are video clips of various phases of tornado


Now have the full account with vid clips. Link with video sometime in near future.
http://stormsatori-kcstormguy.blogspot.com/2009/05/our-remarkable-close-encounter-with.html

(mistakenly put in discussion now placed here in reports)
What a day !
Target 5/13/09 : from Columbia to Kirksville - East or West
Team: Eric Flescher, James Seitz, Uday Verma

We went with our initial target after looking over forecasts etc. We headed further North from Columbia and decided to go even further North after stopping in Macon. We has lost a little time getting to Kirksville. We were in the McDonalds in Kirksville admiring some of the towers that were dissipating and wondering whether we were late and whether anything would now happen. We were inside the tornado watch area box. We saw some signs of promise but nothing outstanding as we waited.

Around 5:44, we heard that a trained spotter had seen a funnel near Novinger. We headed down the Highway 6 West towards Novinger.
We could see that this "funnel" was now a tornado as we peered through the road view between the trees as we headed West on HWy 6. It possibly just crossed the Highway but was now North of Highway 6.
We stopped and saw the tornado was headed East and fast. We positioned ourselves on the top of nice hill. We headed North past a home on the corner (I can't quite make out the street nme) and stopped a few hundred yards north to get the best view as the tornado headed straight for us.

It was under a mile(?) away from us and we had a ringside seat. It changed shape several time, then widened considerably. We had a real good look at it for several minutes. I took the video ( I did not have enough time to get out my and Uday and James took photos. It was still heading for us and it was a getting a little too close.
This dangerous storm must have been only a few hundred yards away from us and was getting too close. We headed back up the road (South) and then turned and went down HWY 6 East .
We stopped further East where there now chasers. We took more pics and videos of the now considerably rain wrapped tornado that was now heading just North of highway 6 and East towards Kirksville. We took more video and pictures and watched as it sped toward north of Kirksville.
We did not stay in Kirksville (where there was a lot of damage a little later) and tried to catch some more cells with rotation further East. We broke off and headed South toward Columbia and back to Kansas City, watching some nice lightning along the way.
I am writing this fast to get our account out now. James, Uday and I will write more later with photos etc. The video, more screen snaps, photos and account information on my Storm Satori blog later today.