5/13/2010 REPORTS: IN/IL/OH/MI/MO/AR

[tom hanlon]

I chased Ohio, but I added the other states in case anyone chased in those areas. I consider one big event, or non-event .

Left this morning for a chase of what seemed like a good setup and as the night goes on with a tornado warned storm in Indiana, perhaps it was a good setup in the end. I do not chase at night, so here is my daytime report.

Headed west of Columbus towards Dayton on I-70 in the early morning when cells triggered by a gravity wave fired in northern KY and headed North. I ignored them as long as I could expecting further initiation to my west to be the main play of the day. The atmosphere was extremely juicy in the lower levels, cloud bases so low my antenna bumped against them. There was shear, cells remained isolated. The cells went Severe warned as they crossed into ohio, so I headed through Xenia towards Wilmington to intercept.

Once we got close to the cells they evaporated.. just evaporated. Lack of upper level support I suppose. So it was back north to I-70 and west to intercept a line of more or less isolated cells coming into Ohio from Indiana, riding a boundary before the cold front.

These storms looked good, by the time they hit Ohio the northern most storm was dominant and the others had faded. Then, it just evaporated.

What was going on here? The SPC give us a 10% tor, we had almost all of ohio in a tornado watch for most of the day.

It was still early so we waited for some signs of cumulus on the satellite, but finally just headed home.

This was not your typical ohio bust, your typical ohio bust is too much crapvection in the morning, or a nasty squall line, or too much rain.

So.. at least Ohio has busted in a new way.. was it cap ? In the AM perhaps a lack of upper level support was the issue. But later on.. I do not think so.

I think the Wilmington AFD says it best... and quoting here..

"
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM FRIDAY MORNING/

UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH CAPES NEAR 2500 J/KG COMBINED WITH FAVORABLE
WIND FIELDS AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT IN PLACE THIS AFTN. THE LAST
INGREDIENT NEEDED WAS A TRIGGER. THE FIRST TRIGGER...A GRAVITY WAVE
EMBEDDED IN THE FLOW OBSERVED ON VIS SATL IMGRY RIPPLING THRU THE
FLOW HELPED TRIGGER SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE FAR SRN
PORTION OF ILN/S FA. WITH THIS FEATURE QUICKLY TRANSLATING ESE
THIS CONVECTION HAS DISSIPATED. A SECOND TRIGGER...AN OLD OUTFLOW
BOUNDARY WHICH MOVED ACROSS INDIANA ACTED AS A GENESIS REGION FOR
CONVECTION. THE WINDS BECAME SW IN FRONT AND BEHIND THIS FEATURE
SO IT LOST THE LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE. DUE TO LACK OF A TRIGGER...
HAVE DROPPED THE ENTIRE TORNADO WATCH ACROSS ILN/S FA. HAVE DROPPED
POPS INTO CHC CATEGORY OVERNIGHT WITH THE BEST THREAT EXPECTED AFTER
MIDNIGHT WHEN THE FRONT DROPS INTO THE REGION. "

[/FONT]
--
Tom Hanlon
[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier] [/FONT]

 

[Ryan Wichman]

What was going on here? The SPC give us a 10% tor, we had almost all of ohio in a tornado watch for most of the day.

MODS: This should be posted in a disc thread. I am just trying to answer some questions posted above.

The low level environment looked fairly stout this afternoon with some backing in the low levels, especially along the warm front. Instability really shot up with clearing and with several triggers for convection (i.e. gravity waves/fronts/OFBs) this looked like a nice day at first glance.

However, as you eluded to Tom the upper air support was lacking at best and most likely squashed deep convection. Below is a wind profiler from NE IN. You can see the long wave ridging during the afternoon and even into this evening. (This is probably a time sensitive link, so I save the picture if anyone wants it.)

Given the strong parameters otherwise indicated and the lack of an overwhelming cap, the upper air ridging is likely to blame for the bust-o-la day.

Hope this sheds some light Tom.

-Ryan

 

[Mike Kovalchick]

Left the Lansing, MI area around 12:30 EDT with high hopes and headed straight South towards NW Ohio looking for the warm front. It was 48F & drizzle when I left with fog all the way to the Michigan border with a stiff East wind. As if on cue, the sun came out right at the border(as most know-Michigan ranks just behind Western Washington in the cloud department!) and temps slowly climbed.

I reached Bryan, Ohio(same town I chased the prevous week)..temps up to 64..winds calm..and then to Sherwood, Ohio only a few miles to the South..temps 82, brisk SW wind..and a whopping 72 dewpoint! Towers were going up all over as it was a theta-E max area with an old outflow boundary pushing through. Nice!

My excitement lasted only a few minutes when I realized that the developing convection was quickly headed off to the East straight for unchaseable Toledo and Lake Erie. It took a few more minutes to realize that the same outflow boundary had rendered the rest of the warm sector in NW Ohio & N. Indiana devoid of any convection or the possiblity of convection despite the newly issued Tornado Watch.

I then drifted West to decide my next move. Meantime, some convection had developed NW of Battle Creek, MI where the warm front had bowed North locally in SW Michigan. I called Bob Hartig and consulted with him. He agreed that Indy/Ohio was a lost cause but the Northern storm was in area with some promise. Ugh. (You know the feeling you get when the only chaseable storm is an adjacent state?) So I blasted up I69 some 90 miles and caught the storm near Olivet.

I chased that storm for awhile through the jungles of S. Lower Michigan and did some mud bogging in my Subaru due to the recent heavy rains trying to keep up. (Think recent t.v. commerical of that Subaru Outback completely covered in mud with everyone clapping!) The storm showed some supercell characteristics and I believe Bob noted some minor rotation with it.

I then left that storm as another better looking storm developed to the South of it near Jackson. I followed that storm for about a hour until it started to plow into colder air and let myself get cored in order to wash my car off! (Note: MI cores rarely have hail in them.) That was about it. Really didn't get any good photos to show for it.