6/21/09 REPORTS: IA/MN

[Melanie Metz]

Tornado near Wells, MN

Peggy and I headed out with Brad Nelson, MaryLynn Nelson and Scott Schneweis (from METRO magazine). We were going to head south on I-35 into IA but there were a couple accidents and construction causing problems on the interstate so we opted to head SW and then S on Hwy 169. We dropped into IA and first chased a cell about 20 miles south of the border. It had good rotation and a brief needle funnel but didn't maintain very long. We headed back North, intercepted the tornado warned storms in Southern MN and capatured a small tornado near Wells, MN.

Will get website updated with photos and log by end of today. You tube video is posted and photo attached.

You tube video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv0qB7MMGLk

Melanie

 

[Joe beier]

yes because about 7 mins before it got to holland i got hit by part of a shed roof

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiXpQ3DMSC0

first part is near steamboat rock/owasa then the second half is 5 or 6 mi. west of holland

Good god ... I hope the cars not banged up too bad!

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

After some 'technical difficulties' with cellphone/internet access (and after almost calling it a day before the day even began because of it) we ended up just north of Jewell Junction, IA. Looking north and west from there (towards Kamrar, IA) we saw our first wall cloud and funnel (it may or may not have been a tornado but we didn't have a clear view).

We ended up staying on the initial storm for a while watching as funnel clouds rose and lowered from the wall cloud. However, a new and stronger storm was developing just a few miles to the south and west so we had to abandon the first storm as it was becoming increasingly dangerous where we were so we headed back south towards Jewel Junction (again). Again the resulting storm produced a wall cloud with some nice rotation and funnel just to our north (less then 1 mile). However, this time the storm did not produce a tornado that we saw until later on (unlike the initial storm possibly did). We ended up leaving Jewel Junction and headed east on 175 and then north on 65. However, we again saw a funnel northeast of Hubbard, IA (or I think anyway - we saw several so the exact locations kind of gets fuzzy). At this point we wanted to get ahead of the storm as the storm was moving relatively slow so we jumped on Highway 20 and headed east. The most dangerous part of the storm was several miles south of Highway 20 so we decided to 'punch the core' (I know, VERY dangerous). The rain was very heavy of course so we couldn't go much faster then 35 MPH. As we neared the front of the storm the rotation area had shifted north (much much closer to Highway 20). The wind picked up considerably at this time and there seemed to be strong rotation in the rain just to our south (this was a bit frightening at the time as you can about imagine). However, we lucked out and managed to get in front of the part of the storm I wanted to be a head of. Probably not more then 2 minutes after getting ahead of the storm we saw a rapidly rotating wall cloud and funnel just to our south. We paralleled this for a few minutes and as we neared Dike, IA we saw a debris cloud form on the ground just to our south. The tornado then shifted north and crossed Highway 20 probably 100 yards in front of us (although there were a few people alot closer - we were closer then I would like to have been even). Anyhow, the tornado missed Dike, IA (for the most part) but hit a farm/house just west of town. Anyhow, here a a few more pictures. I also have video if I can get it off my video camera...

This is the beginning of the tornado south of Highway 20 near Dike. Notice the debris cloud on the ground (maybe a little hard to see in a picture I suppose).

Below is a sequence of the Dike, IA tornado after it had crossed Highway 20 and as it approached and hit a farm (as I mentioned - I have video which is much better quality then these stills but I have to get the video on my computer yet)...

 

[V. Gensini]

A few pictures from my chase account in central IA yesterday are posted @ http://dryline19.blogspot.com

 

[Paul Hadfield]

(Mods, please add IL to the list)

Sunday afternoon around 2PM an impressive sup developed in Sangamon/Logan county areas and pretty much took on a life of it's own. Diving SE, it traveled independent of other convection firing in the area that was drifting NE. Though I missed it while in my backyard due to having an errand to run, I was able to catch up and follow along till giving up near Findlay IL. Definitely a nice opportunity for being Father's Day. Images and full report on my BLOG.

 

[Josh Richardson]

Here are a couple pics from yesterday, didnt have time to get much due to being on the move always and of course....all the rain.

First couple are of the wall cloud east of Kamrar:

Here is the zoomed in and contrasted version of the rain curtains many of us were watching near Holland.

 

[David Drufke]

Full storm chasing account and pictures of the June 21, 2009 Tornado here.

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

I don't really have much to report, but I was able to get on a late evening tornadic supercell just northwest of Iowa City, or about a few miles west of North Liberty. Due to family obligations, I wasn't able to leave the Quad Cities till around 7. I honestly didn't think I would have a shot at much, but I eventually caught up to it just before it merged with the cell to its south. Fairly decent structure and a rapidly rotating meso, but once again that's all I have to show for. Three and a half hours of driving, 30 minutes watching my cell. Chasing is tough.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

http://www.extremeinstability.com/09-6-21.htm

Image account up there.

 

[Michael Towers]

Frustrating but fun day nonetheless on an impromptu chase. Based on Saturday’s model runs and forecast soundings I didn’t give chasing on Sunday a thought until finally getting online and checking data at around 12:30pm. Got myself moving and scrambled out from my home near RFD an hour later with a target of Waterloo. I was hoping convection would initiate from or SE of there and move into a more favorable environment versus central Iowa with better forecast sounding parameters. By the time I got to Waterloo the cells near Fort Dodge had been the only thing going and they’d been struggling for well over an hour. After gassing up I checked data confirming no reason to change my original target and was planning to wait for initiation as the WF approached. Road options would allow excellent pursuit in all directions with an eye on 380 ESE as the most desirable. All set to wait patiently I check radar and Fort Dodge stuff was tor warned with nothing in my target area popping. With storm movement heading toward me I figured I could be there in under an hour, so much for waiting patiently and off I went to intercept.

I think I set a record for missing tornadoes. I got on the storm after the Stanhope and Williams tornadoes, getting to the notch at US 20 & US 65 to find rising rotating scud and rotation at the base but nothing close to suggesting tornado. My location put me 4 miles south of Iowa Falls and about 3 miles WNW of Owasa. Before moving east to follow the base a media chaser comes up and tells me about the tornado he had witnessed earlier. What was it like? Bent rope up in the air. Did it make contact with the ground? No, just whirling in the air. That was your tornado? Yeah, good luck on catching one yourself!

I wouldn’t catch the one 3 miles south of Iowa Falls nor the two near Owasa, those escaped me. I headed east to CR S56 about 5 miles north of Steamboat Rock or just south of Cleves where it looked slightly better with a lower base and scud screaming horizontally & vertically. According to GPS logs I was there from 2345z until 2355z but somehow missed the 2351z tornado reported 5NNE of Steamboat and the second one at 2359z as well. Rain overtook my position so I headed east on US 20 watching the base to the south, exiting just north of Wellsburg and headed into town where the sirens were blaring. Lowest base yet and the clouds were roiling! Multiple areas looked possible to go, the rotations were impressive and I had vidcam on tripod to capture any tornado that would form. Never happened, circulation passed to the east and I went south after a fireman stopped blocking the road. I missed the reported tornado 2 miles south of Wellsburg at 0015z even though GPS reflects I was stopped from 0005z until 0013z on the north edge of town and was almost exactly 2 miles south of Wellsburg at 0018z.

Went east on CR D35 toward Holland. I noticed the rain curtains but couldn’t see beyond the veil and wanted to stay ahead of the circulation. So I headed further east thus missing the rain-wrapped tornado 3 miles west of Holland. At the west edge of Holland things tightened up again with several areas of interest, one which produced a small brief funnel to be followed moments later by a slightly larger and longer lasting funnel that teased but soon disappeared back into the base. With rain overtaking me again I headed east to stay with the notch. While doing so I hear of reports of the Dike tornadoes to my north beyond the wall of precipitation. Wasn’t going through that and I was too late anyway so I missed the Dike tornadoes and by that time the stuff I was under had gone to crap. Noticing the cells that fired to the south I knew the show was over and seeing as how the clusters extended all the way down to Iowa City I decided to call it a chase and head back home. Got in before midnight for a full night’s sleep for the next day’s business.

In all I was seemingly positioned well for the majority of the tornadoes but didn’t see a single tube. Frustrating yes but it was great to get out and chase anyway and it would have been more frustrating watching it all unfold from home just 300 miles away. The cells were a disorganized mess for the most part, but they were slow moving and good road networks made navigating easy. I just didn’t have the fortune of being in the exact right place at the exact right time even though I seemingly was in all the right places at all the right times in general. Such is the nature of chasing sometimes.

 

[Bill Doms]

Decided to stay north closer to the warm front. After a horrific traffic delay on I 35 finally made it to my target of around Blue Earth, MN with not a whole lot of time to spare. Watched the towers go up by Blue Earth but they looked too soft so dropped back into Iowa to watch the cell near Algona come up. Sure enough, as soon as I moved, one of the three towers went nuts and the chase was on. Hung out southwest of Easton, MN watching twin wall clouds for a bit before the one to the west gusted out. Was sitting about a mile or so east of Easton when another touchdown was reported north of town which I highly suspect was just RFD. A second cell went up just to the south and quickly went torn warned so decided to drop down at Wells and split the view between the two torn warned cells. Was sitting about half way between 22 and 109 when the southern cell formed a short lived funnel. A second funnel appeared to the south east and did briefly touch down. A third funnel then formed just about due south and became the nice white rope David Drufke (who is my usual chase partner anyhow) posted earlier. Once that torn roped, kinda did the ping pong thing back and forth on cells and took a look at one other torn warned cell coming up from the southwest near Glenville, MN in the dark before calling it a day.

Full set of images and video can be seen here

Video grab of the first tornado near Alden, MN.

Second tornado also near Alden, MN

 

[Brad Nelson]

Alden, MN Tornado

Peggy Willenberg, Melanie Metz, MaryLynn Nelson and I decided to play the warm front this day and ended up heading down Hwy 169 from the Twin Cities to Algona, IA. On the way down, we did pass a developing storm with a VERY nice lowering near Elmore, IA. This storm was well north of the warm front and appeared to be moving quickly to the northeast into a not as favorable environment, so we continued south to Algona and sought after a storm that was looking impressive on radar as well as being right on the warm front. This storm did produce a couple of funnels east of Algona and then seemed to be undercut by the warm front and lag behind, therefore gradually weakening as the fast moving warm front continued into southern MN. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the storm that we passed up quickly became tornado warned near Blue Earth, MN. We waited around for several radar scans on the southern cell and then bailed towards the cell heading towards Easton, MN. The storm had reports of a few funnels and a tornado near Easton before we got there, but our crew managed to get on the storm between Easton and Wells where we witnessed a funnel ¾ of the way to the ground. It did not look like this touched down at that time. After lifting, we followed the storm past Wells, witnessed another funnel and then the tornado around 2 miles west-northwest of Alden, MN. It was interesting that the storm that produced the funnels and tornado near Easton and Wells was not the storm that produced the tornado near Alden. The storm that produced the tornado near Alden developed to the south and quickly became severe. The tornado formed on the eastern part of the storm, which was interesting because the inflow was out of the southeast of the storm and did not seem to be directly into the action area. The low level shear this day was very high while the deep layer shear appeared to be not as ideal. Therefore, the storms that went up were not supercells but were quite low topped with hardly any lightning and tops that had a difficult time exceeding 30K feet. Basically the tops could not reach far enough past the freezing level to produce any hail and even lightning. It was very interesting to see these low topped storms have so many lowerings, wall clouds, funnels, and overall motion.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omprZgDRvuI

 

[Joel Wright]

Jeremy Ludin included my account with his on his site, both now finished here...

http://www.furiousskies.com/7_21_09.html

 

[afischer]

Got an account up of the June 21 tornadoes in Iowa, including some decent video captures of the Dike tornado... http://www.tornadohead.com/062109chase.htm