Dan Cook
EF5
I was on the Missouri squall line with the COD team. Had a pretty cool shelf cloud but not much else.
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5/15/09 REPORTS: TX/OK/KS/MO/IL
- Thread starter sdienst
- Start date
George Grant
EF1
Ottawa cell
On the same Ottawa storm. Made it to the south side of the storm after slicing through two areas of precip. I must have just missed the funnel S/SE of Overbrook. Followed along as it weakened and stopped at US 59. Saw three seemingly identical vehicles with anemometers, etc. on their tops. Passed on this and instead walked back to the red pickup behind me. He wasn't much for talking as he only said, "We're chasing the chasers. We're with the Discovery Channel."
Pressed on east as this thing was barely showing any rotation. Stopped behind another red pickup. Kyle Soldani (it's not Chad!
) and his brother pulled up right behind me. Chatted with them for a bit and found we were having the same problems with Spotter Network V3. His laptop is blue-screening and my GRLevel3 loses its SN icon and Streets & Trips crashes. The squall overtook our dying cell and produced a nice-looking shelf.
Punched through the squall line and was back in Omaha by 10:00pm.
Geo
On the same Ottawa storm. Made it to the south side of the storm after slicing through two areas of precip. I must have just missed the funnel S/SE of Overbrook. Followed along as it weakened and stopped at US 59. Saw three seemingly identical vehicles with anemometers, etc. on their tops. Passed on this and instead walked back to the red pickup behind me. He wasn't much for talking as he only said, "We're chasing the chasers. We're with the Discovery Channel."
Pressed on east as this thing was barely showing any rotation. Stopped behind another red pickup. Kyle Soldani (it's not Chad!
) and his brother pulled up right behind me. Chatted with them for a bit and found we were having the same problems with Spotter Network V3. His laptop is blue-screening and my GRLevel3 loses its SN icon and Streets & Trips crashes. The squall overtook our dying cell and produced a nice-looking shelf.Punched through the squall line and was back in Omaha by 10:00pm.
Geo
Stephen Levine
EF4
Report, Kansas
My wife and I left Garland around 10:30 a.m. for a Southern KS target area, based upon the greater helicity and stronger upper level winds in the North.
We intercepted the tornado warned cell to the SW of Wichita, and witnessed a spectacular wall cloud, brief funnels and other fascinating cloud structures as well as powerful lightning.
We then danced with this system back south into OK where we finally let it pass over us.
The full story plus 14 photos is now posted on my site www.joyfulstormhunting.com
My wife and I left Garland around 10:30 a.m. for a Southern KS target area, based upon the greater helicity and stronger upper level winds in the North.
We intercepted the tornado warned cell to the SW of Wichita, and witnessed a spectacular wall cloud, brief funnels and other fascinating cloud structures as well as powerful lightning.
We then danced with this system back south into OK where we finally let it pass over us.
The full story plus 14 photos is now posted on my site www.joyfulstormhunting.com
OK I`ll try this again for Andrew
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Jason Blum
EF0
Ottawa, KS
David Toner and I chased the Ottawa storm until it merged into the squall line.
After watching it drop a funnel to within twenty feet or so of the ground (only a few hundred feet away from us), I had high hopes for it... but sadly it just wasn't meant to be. I should have known, because I never saw much rotation in any of it. Too bad; being so close to the the funnel was pretty impressive even without any decent rotation. If it had had any, it would have been quite a sight!
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMYWFehP-NE
David Toner and I chased the Ottawa storm until it merged into the squall line.
After watching it drop a funnel to within twenty feet or so of the ground (only a few hundred feet away from us), I had high hopes for it... but sadly it just wasn't meant to be. I should have known, because I never saw much rotation in any of it. Too bad; being so close to the the funnel was pretty impressive even without any decent rotation. If it had had any, it would have been quite a sight!
Here is the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMYWFehP-NE
Last edited by a moderator:
Glenn Schubert
EF0
Decatur, IL
On Friday I gave 2 talks to my fiance's 6th grade classes in Salem, IL on tornadoes and storm chasing. When I left her school, I noticed Tornado Watches were posted in IA, MO and IL. A nice Tor Warned cell was at the MO/IL border heading east. As soon as Tracy got off work, we heading north on Rt 51 hoping to intercept this storm near Decatur, IL. It seemed to be following Interstate 72 through Jacksonville and Springfield. We did catch this storm in Macon Co IL on the west side of Decatur. We saw what appeared to be a wall cloud on the southwest side of the storm. Unfortunately, about this time the waterpump on my 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee decided to to give out. That left us stranded just south of Decatur as the tornado sirens were blaring. We were able to get some nice photos of the storm structure before the trailing front (and some help) arrived. A local volunteer firefighter who stopped to help us said that he saw a funnel NW of Decatur, but it did not reach the ground.
On Friday I gave 2 talks to my fiance's 6th grade classes in Salem, IL on tornadoes and storm chasing. When I left her school, I noticed Tornado Watches were posted in IA, MO and IL. A nice Tor Warned cell was at the MO/IL border heading east. As soon as Tracy got off work, we heading north on Rt 51 hoping to intercept this storm near Decatur, IL. It seemed to be following Interstate 72 through Jacksonville and Springfield. We did catch this storm in Macon Co IL on the west side of Decatur. We saw what appeared to be a wall cloud on the southwest side of the storm. Unfortunately, about this time the waterpump on my 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee decided to to give out. That left us stranded just south of Decatur as the tornado sirens were blaring. We were able to get some nice photos of the storm structure before the trailing front (and some help) arrived. A local volunteer firefighter who stopped to help us said that he saw a funnel NW of Decatur, but it did not reach the ground.
Attachments
Colin Davis
EF1
A fun, "local" chase alongside Scott Kampas for most of the day. We later met up with Andrew Pritchard (and his girlfriend Tia), Mark Sefried, Darin Kaiser, and Brad Emel near Illiopolis about halfway through the day.
Scott met me at my house in Canton around 3pm. We had chatted briefly the night before about today's prospects along the WF in Illinois (we thought that, given sufficient instability gradients, it was the place to be), but both of us had early-day commitments that kept us from sitting along the boundary for most of the day; Scott with work, me with class. I kept an eye on things, talking at various points throughout the morning with Pritchard.
As it became increasingly clear that moisture would be sufficient for the day, I began thinking of the best way to chase. Andrew shot down I-72 at around 1pm, and I sat indecisively in front of my computer screen until close to 2. At that point, I essentially said, "To hell with my last class!" and effectively pulled the fence post out of my rear, and came up with a plan. I'd head to Canton (my hometown), where I would gas up, eat, re-evaluate data, and fix my radio that had given me problems toward the end of my chase on Wednesday.
I only got through one of those before Scott arrived. He "helped" me fix my radio (I use quotation marks as he mostly did all the real work; I just got the materials), we got gas on the way out of town, and kept our eyes fixed to the radars on our phones as we did so -- neither of us having mobile data at this time. Finally, by close to 3:30, we were on our way toward Jacksonville.
But as we got closer, it became apparent that we'd need to be further east. A tail-end storm had formed near UIN, and it became more and more obvious that it would intersect the boundary where the better winds were. We rerouted to Springfield, and shot down 97. We went about 10 miles south of Petersburg, then went toward Pleasant Plains, where we got our first real view of the storm that had been tornado-warned for the better part of an hour. However, the storm impressed neither of us visually, and we bailed on it for more discrete activity to the south (closer to I-72) that was on the warm side of the front.
Soon, though, that was ingested into the main cell, which became the dominant storm -- a photogenic HP that remained outflow-dominant for most of its life. Although it retained its tornado warning for almost three more hours, it stayed on the cool side of the boundary for nearly its entire supercellular lifespan -- some four hours. Because of this, the storm never could really get its act together, though it tried numerous times to do so.
The closest it came to tornado potential was what Andrew called the "stormtrack-nado," where it engulfed all of us in dust and grit as the mesocyclone passed overhead just moments after Scott and I drove underneath to the east side. It exhibited especially tight rotation as we did so, but the area of interest remained "wispy," as Scott called it at the time, and somewhat high-based, and continued rotating in that fashion at the time of the weak ground circulation on Old 36, just east of Illiopolis.
It was at that time that we jumped in the Sefried/Kaiser-Emel-Pritchard/Ebert caravan and continued following it eastward, stopping numerous times to photograph the photogenic storm. We witnessed several small towns along the way -- with sirens blaring but without power -- and their respective citizens watching the cell from their porches, looking for "them twistin' clouds."
They found some, as did we along the way, but nothing more than tight, high-based rotation that couldn't get its act together. Had it been 20 miles south, I have little doubt we would have witnessed a tornadofest. But such is the chase season in 2009. If's and but's, but no candy. And no nuts.
We finally gave up on the storm near Champaign just before reaching I-57. By that time (and for the better part of an hour before), the storm had become a small, potent bowing segment, producing some reports of winds as high as 80mph driving golf ball-hail through car windows. We managed to avoid this.
Taking some photos before we did so, we parted ways and headed for home. Brad and Andrew/Tia had short trips home from here, but ours was longer.
Somehow, I can never manage a short jaunt home after a chase.
Near Decatur, IL as it drops golf balls +
Stitched panorama of the cell as we sat near I-57, shortly before calling off the chase.
Scott met me at my house in Canton around 3pm. We had chatted briefly the night before about today's prospects along the WF in Illinois (we thought that, given sufficient instability gradients, it was the place to be), but both of us had early-day commitments that kept us from sitting along the boundary for most of the day; Scott with work, me with class. I kept an eye on things, talking at various points throughout the morning with Pritchard.
As it became increasingly clear that moisture would be sufficient for the day, I began thinking of the best way to chase. Andrew shot down I-72 at around 1pm, and I sat indecisively in front of my computer screen until close to 2. At that point, I essentially said, "To hell with my last class!" and effectively pulled the fence post out of my rear, and came up with a plan. I'd head to Canton (my hometown), where I would gas up, eat, re-evaluate data, and fix my radio that had given me problems toward the end of my chase on Wednesday.
I only got through one of those before Scott arrived. He "helped" me fix my radio (I use quotation marks as he mostly did all the real work; I just got the materials), we got gas on the way out of town, and kept our eyes fixed to the radars on our phones as we did so -- neither of us having mobile data at this time. Finally, by close to 3:30, we were on our way toward Jacksonville.
But as we got closer, it became apparent that we'd need to be further east. A tail-end storm had formed near UIN, and it became more and more obvious that it would intersect the boundary where the better winds were. We rerouted to Springfield, and shot down 97. We went about 10 miles south of Petersburg, then went toward Pleasant Plains, where we got our first real view of the storm that had been tornado-warned for the better part of an hour. However, the storm impressed neither of us visually, and we bailed on it for more discrete activity to the south (closer to I-72) that was on the warm side of the front.
Soon, though, that was ingested into the main cell, which became the dominant storm -- a photogenic HP that remained outflow-dominant for most of its life. Although it retained its tornado warning for almost three more hours, it stayed on the cool side of the boundary for nearly its entire supercellular lifespan -- some four hours. Because of this, the storm never could really get its act together, though it tried numerous times to do so.
The closest it came to tornado potential was what Andrew called the "stormtrack-nado," where it engulfed all of us in dust and grit as the mesocyclone passed overhead just moments after Scott and I drove underneath to the east side. It exhibited especially tight rotation as we did so, but the area of interest remained "wispy," as Scott called it at the time, and somewhat high-based, and continued rotating in that fashion at the time of the weak ground circulation on Old 36, just east of Illiopolis.
It was at that time that we jumped in the Sefried/Kaiser-Emel-Pritchard/Ebert caravan and continued following it eastward, stopping numerous times to photograph the photogenic storm. We witnessed several small towns along the way -- with sirens blaring but without power -- and their respective citizens watching the cell from their porches, looking for "them twistin' clouds."
They found some, as did we along the way, but nothing more than tight, high-based rotation that couldn't get its act together. Had it been 20 miles south, I have little doubt we would have witnessed a tornadofest. But such is the chase season in 2009. If's and but's, but no candy. And no nuts.
We finally gave up on the storm near Champaign just before reaching I-57. By that time (and for the better part of an hour before), the storm had become a small, potent bowing segment, producing some reports of winds as high as 80mph driving golf ball-hail through car windows. We managed to avoid this.
Taking some photos before we did so, we parted ways and headed for home. Brad and Andrew/Tia had short trips home from here, but ours was longer.
Somehow, I can never manage a short jaunt home after a chase.
Near Decatur, IL as it drops golf balls +
Stitched panorama of the cell as we sat near I-57, shortly before calling off the chase.
Andrew Pritchard
EF5
My not very exciting video of the Illinois HP supercell through it's transition to a bow echo.
evan anderson
EF0
I managed to get out of my office in the Loop just past 1p with an initial target of Beardstown/Jacksonville, IL (thanks Paul S.). However once I arrived into the Springfield area I noticed that a cell at the MO border went Tornado Warned. I continued West on 36 figuring it would fall apart -- however, it stayed together and I quickly found myself underneath it (on 104) and shortly thereafter behind it around Meredosia Lake. I navigated the back roads (much of which were flooding) finally getting on 125 eastward and then Interstate 72 where I finally passed the cell. Thankfully some overpasses along 72 provided some great observation points. By the time I got to a Monticello, IL turnoff I decided to head back North to Chicago (where I caught Skilling on WGN talking about the downstate storms).
Incredible structure for IL and green hues.
I'll post pictures if I can get past the file size limit or find somewhere to host the pics.
Incredible structure for IL and green hues.
I'll post pictures if I can get past the file size limit or find somewhere to host the pics.
Stephen Locke
EF3
Dennis Oswald
Only intercept a nice shelfcloud with whales´mouth at this day:
At the evening were some nice lightning over Enid, OK.
At the evening were some nice lightning over Enid, OK.
