Dan Cook
EF5
Continuing a great season, saw around 4-5 tornadoes in the Peoria area.
Yates City:
Yates City:
-
After witnessing the continued decrease of involvement in the SpotterNetwork staff in serving SN members with troubleshooting issues recently, I have unilaterally decided to terminate the relationship between SpotterNetwork's support and Stormtrack. I have witnessed multiple users unable to receive support weeks after initiating help threads on the forum. I find this lack of response from SpotterNetwork officials disappointing and a failure to hold up their end of the agreement that was made years ago, before I took over management of this site. In my opinion, having Stormtrack users sit and wait for so long to receive help on SpotterNetwork issues on the Stormtrack forums reflects poorly not only on SpotterNetwork, but on Stormtrack and (by association) me as well. Since the issue has not been satisfactorily addressed, I no longer wish for the Stormtrack forum to be associated with SpotterNetwork.
I apologize to those who continue to have issues with the service and continue to see their issues left unaddressed. Please understand that the connection between ST and SN was put in place long before I had any say over it. But now that I am the "captain of this ship," it is within my right (nay, duty) to make adjustments as I see necessary. Ending this relationship is such an adjustment.
For those who continue to need help, I recommend navigating a web browswer to SpotterNetwork's About page, and seeking the individuals listed on that page for all further inquiries about SpotterNetwork.
From this moment forward, the SpotterNetwork sub-forum has been hidden/deleted and there will be no assurance that any SpotterNetwork issues brought up in any of Stormtrack's other sub-forums will be addressed. Do not rely on Stormtrack for help with SpotterNetwork issues.
Sincerely, Jeff D.
6/5/2010 Reports: IL/IN/MI
- Thread starter Dan Cook
- Start date
evan anderson
EF0
Sat around some Knoxville, IL (near Galesburg) park for an hour or two awaiting initiation after leaving Chicago (and skipping Do Division street festival). Initially storms looked weak/ragged on radar slowly limping across the border -- but then quite suddenly came to life. One of the most obvious hooks I've seen while also in it as well. Intercepted same long duration tornado/funnel from near Yates City on through to near West Peoria (appeared to track ESE). Just got back to Chicago so will post SLR pictures later. Drive back up along Interstate 55 broadsided by at least one Tornado-warned storm -- Texas-like in its ferocity. Never expected such intensity in Illinois. First tornado for season and last one seen in 2007 near Silverton, TX. A long 3+ years wait.
Adam Lucio
EF5
What a day. Chased with Danny Neal and got suckered into IA initially.
I am a bit disappointed in dumping my original target of El Paso, IL and getting talked into IA. If its one thing you learn is NEVER turn your back on an IL warm front...let alone one after an MCS comes through, lays down a boundary and the skies clear in 82/75 air along with 60+ kts bulk shear. Its just a recipe for disaster.
Luckily I wasn't suckered far enough west into IA as I just did not like leaving IL too far behind so I was able to lead foot it back into IL once the show started to nab a pair of tornadoes west of Peoria. Screen shot of one is below:
Danny has a better shot of the other which was much larger. Other than the tornado the structure was insane. A flying saucer meso below the most slanted updraft Ive ever seen, The best way I can describe it is a sombrero with a massive wall cloud and tornado under it.
Once the Peoria storm died [slowly] we were floored by the massive storms moving south of the Chicago area and watched in shock as a monster couplet took aim on Streator, Dwight, Reddick and finally Kankakee. Stopped in Dwight and noted some significant damage, the town was in chaos with people running all over not knowing what to do. Not wanting to get in the way we headed back home, punching through the severe warned line on the way.
A hectic day. More structure shots and video will come in a day or so.
I am a bit disappointed in dumping my original target of El Paso, IL and getting talked into IA. If its one thing you learn is NEVER turn your back on an IL warm front...let alone one after an MCS comes through, lays down a boundary and the skies clear in 82/75 air along with 60+ kts bulk shear. Its just a recipe for disaster.
Luckily I wasn't suckered far enough west into IA as I just did not like leaving IL too far behind so I was able to lead foot it back into IL once the show started to nab a pair of tornadoes west of Peoria. Screen shot of one is below:
Danny has a better shot of the other which was much larger. Other than the tornado the structure was insane. A flying saucer meso below the most slanted updraft Ive ever seen, The best way I can describe it is a sombrero with a massive wall cloud and tornado under it.
Once the Peoria storm died [slowly] we were floored by the massive storms moving south of the Chicago area and watched in shock as a monster couplet took aim on Streator, Dwight, Reddick and finally Kankakee. Stopped in Dwight and noted some significant damage, the town was in chaos with people running all over not knowing what to do. Not wanting to get in the way we headed back home, punching through the severe warned line on the way.
A hectic day. More structure shots and video will come in a day or so.
Doyle McIntosh
Amazing night chase in North Central Illinois. Chased the long track cyclical supercell that spawned tornado's from Varna, IL to the I-65 corridor in NW Indiana. Our initial target was the Champaign area to play anything that might spark on the warm front. We sat around for a while and ended up moving NW towards El Paso as the first discrete cells got going in Western Illinois. We watched the Peoria supercell explode, but decided we weren't going to be able to get there by going through Peoria, instead we opted to go north on I-39 to intercept a developing supercell near Varna. We caught initial tornado genesis at sunset just north of Varna, which was rather tricky because the road we were on going north was littered with trees on both sides, but as we crested a hill we hit an opening and the tornado touched down 200-300 yards in front of us on the road.
approach from I-39 looking west
large lowering just north of Varna, looking NW
a few seconds after the tornado had crossed the road in front of us, tearing up trees
it took us 15 minuets to get back on the tornado after the first intercept due to a lack of feasible east road options, and by then it was completely dark outside. This is when i realized my camera was having some major problems and couldn't get a single still as a large tornado hit Streator and eventually Dwight. I must say it was a terrible sight to watch a tornado Silhouetted my the city lights of Dwight plow into the south end of town. We were probably only a mile away (to the west) and could see roof's and structures getting ripped from the ground as constant power flashes and lightning blots illuminated the sky. We debated going into town to help, but there were downed power lines everywhere blocking roads, and figured we may be more of a hindrance than help. We've got video thought, so today I'll be trying to capture some usable stills from that.
lucky snapshot of lightning semi-illuminating the huge meso to the left. Seconds later we witnessed a 15-25 second barrage of blue/green power flashes completely illuminating a large cone tornado hitting Streator.
Finally was able to fix my camera issue as a tornado lifted just west of Reddick, IL on state road 18. Large meso
another classic tornado touches down in an open field, but of course I wasn't able to get out of the car quick enough to get an exposure shot before the tornado lifts again.
after getting East of Kankakee things got hairy as two cell's merged and things got rain wrapped. in the subsequent lightning barrages we saw another stovepipe tornado crossing the IL/IN border near Lake Village, IN. At this point we abandoned the storm because things got too dangerous.
All in all I'd estimate we witnessed 6-10 tornado's last night, one or two being rather long track. May be doing an areal damage survey next weekend.
approach from I-39 looking west
large lowering just north of Varna, looking NW
a few seconds after the tornado had crossed the road in front of us, tearing up trees
it took us 15 minuets to get back on the tornado after the first intercept due to a lack of feasible east road options, and by then it was completely dark outside. This is when i realized my camera was having some major problems and couldn't get a single still as a large tornado hit Streator and eventually Dwight. I must say it was a terrible sight to watch a tornado Silhouetted my the city lights of Dwight plow into the south end of town. We were probably only a mile away (to the west) and could see roof's and structures getting ripped from the ground as constant power flashes and lightning blots illuminated the sky. We debated going into town to help, but there were downed power lines everywhere blocking roads, and figured we may be more of a hindrance than help. We've got video thought, so today I'll be trying to capture some usable stills from that.
lucky snapshot of lightning semi-illuminating the huge meso to the left. Seconds later we witnessed a 15-25 second barrage of blue/green power flashes completely illuminating a large cone tornado hitting Streator.
Finally was able to fix my camera issue as a tornado lifted just west of Reddick, IL on state road 18. Large meso
another classic tornado touches down in an open field, but of course I wasn't able to get out of the car quick enough to get an exposure shot before the tornado lifts again.
after getting East of Kankakee things got hairy as two cell's merged and things got rain wrapped. in the subsequent lightning barrages we saw another stovepipe tornado crossing the IL/IN border near Lake Village, IN. At this point we abandoned the storm because things got too dangerous.
All in all I'd estimate we witnessed 6-10 tornado's last night, one or two being rather long track. May be doing an areal damage survey next weekend.
Last edited by a moderator:
Danny Neal
EF5
Tornadoes near PIA. Two different tornadoes about 10 minutes apart
Tornado damage in Dwight, IL
Danny Neal
EF5
Tornado damage 20 minutes after tornado hit Dwight. We offered to help but the town was in a state of chaos and there were live wires down all over so decided to get out of the way.
Jarrod Cook
EF2
Excellent chase today with Darin Kaiser and his girlfriend (her first chase!). Started towards Iowa like most with Iowa City as the target. Decided to turn south before getting there due to better parameters noted in Southern IA including nice clearing sections. Sat in Swedesburg for what seemed like forever waiting for convection to form. We did not pay much attention to the line out west. Finally noted some scattered showers developing in the area. A peek at SPC meso analysis showed the best parameters shifting into IL, so we quickly hopped on US34 towards Burlington. Main storm was forming east of us, but we made slow but steady progress catching up to it. We saw it form a rain free base, then wall cloud, then elephant trunk tornado from the beginning. The visibility and contrast was amazing for IL. It formed near Abingdon and we saw it clip Yates City.
Brad Emel
EF2
Scott Sims and I were on the Illinois supercell that produced at least 4 tornadoes (that we could confirm) in Knox and Peoria counties. The tornadoes were very photogenic and we captured some excellent video.
Images are screenshots from video.
720p Video: http://www.brademel.com/stormtrack/Yates-City-Tornado.wmv
You may have to right click and "save target as"
Images are screenshots from video.
720p Video: http://www.brademel.com/stormtrack/Yates-City-Tornado.wmv
You may have to right click and "save target as"
Attachments
Alan Black
Great chase with chase partner Jim Andersen and my fiancee, Michelle Byington. I initially wanted to target the Galesburg, IL to Peoria, IL area. After meeting up with Jim in Peru, IL we decided to head to Burlington, IA and waited. The storm initiated right over our heads and we followed it in to IL where it produced a brief wall cloud around Biggsville, IL. We kept with the storm as it went on to produce what appeared to be several tornadoes from east of Maquon, IL to Peoria. Michelle was running the camera so pictures courtesy of her. First three photos show the tornado near Yates City, IL and the last two are later between Elmwood, IL and Peoria.
Fred Dearborn
EF1
Setup in Galesburg around 2pm and was on the strongest cell southwest of town around 7ish and watched it go from nothing to supercell in less than 30 min..My wife did a great job with video as the tornado was on the ground for well over 30 minutes as we tracked it all the way to Peoria.
Terrence Cook
EF2
Illinois really has some great chase country.
We had an interesting day yesterday with excellent timing and not too much back-tracking.
We witnessed the genesis of tornado #1 and then watched it hit some structures from 400 yards or so.
The tornado appeared to lift briefly and then re-intesified, quite dramatically and directly impacted the town of Elmwood. Debris was thrown up several hundred feet in a matter of 3-4 seconds, very amazing video and incredible experience, better video than 5-22 and we were within a mile of that!
We had an interesting day yesterday with excellent timing and not too much back-tracking.
We witnessed the genesis of tornado #1 and then watched it hit some structures from 400 yards or so.
The tornado appeared to lift briefly and then re-intesified, quite dramatically and directly impacted the town of Elmwood. Debris was thrown up several hundred feet in a matter of 3-4 seconds, very amazing video and incredible experience, better video than 5-22 and we were within a mile of that!
Matthew Piechota
got the same supercell and tornadoes that most others did...we were in mount pleasant, IA depressed and ready to head home to IL so we decided the only thing to do was to go back east to IL on 34 and hope. as soon as we got into IL near Burlington a mini supercell was taking shape and mother nature turned on the LLJ switch as we went from nothing to raging tornadic supercells.
As adam said, the setup was dangerous and IL warm fronts always seem to do something special. got 5 tornadoes and now Gilbert from NIU (who we were chasing with) is throwing out 7 possibly so were still trying to figure out a final count.
will do a detailed write up on my blog when I get a chance. Congrats to all that bagged tornadoes.
As adam said, the setup was dangerous and IL warm fronts always seem to do something special. got 5 tornadoes and now Gilbert from NIU (who we were chasing with) is throwing out 7 possibly so were still trying to figure out a final count.
will do a detailed write up on my blog when I get a chance. Congrats to all that bagged tornadoes.
Stan Olson
EF1
I was also on the Elmwood, IL tornado, though a little further south than everyone else. (just north of Farmington)
I also shot some HD video of the tornado.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nKo9ktu4tw
I also shot some HD video of the tornado.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nKo9ktu4tw
Chip Redmond
EF4
To make a long story short (and a few pics) before I go back into the grind of exam week...
Sat in Wapello, IA for much of the afternoon to have a way to cross the Miss river north/south depending on where convection fired. When the weak convection along the disturbance passed over we watched several cums go and then quickly die. One in particular towards the end actually was a little LP-ish one that even rotated. That is when we decided things were going to go along that convection as it moved east. We decided to head south and follow the southern most cell as it was in the most favorable shear.
It went tor warned and had a decent base....and then we made a wrong turn (we forgot our GPS, somehow) and lost the storm in a confusion of backroads. Finally gained barrings and headed west....right into Elmwood. I took a few as we drove through but the movement in the car, coupled with my weakeness of evening photography led to only a few to come out. Here is a view of downtown with debris scattered about.
After giving up on the storm and encountering more blocked roads into Peoria, we decided to head south and check out the next sup that was an HP mess. Tried to get backlit lightning but just way to much rain. It shelfed out and then we dropped further south and got on the last storm of the night just west of Lincoln. It was more classic in nature and showed great structure as it passed over the city. When it passed over, the rotation tightened up and a very low wall cloud/funnel was evident near the ground. As it moved further east it looked nearly in contact to the ground and it is the exact time of the Beason report. It is very likely there was a tornado on the ground.
There seems to be a mix up on the reports of ILX and correcting the reports. It states that they corrected the Hopedale report but listed Logan as the county...Hopedale is in Tazwell... oh well. We will see if it gets confirmed.
Either way, good chase with the exception of the big snafu that caused us to miss the big show. Depressing also as people are sobbing and in chaos after a tornado too. Hopefully the Beason tornado made the day complete for us and not all that somber.
Thoughts and prayers to the families of those suffering in all the affected states.
This is the Peoria/Elmwood cell before it was warned just across the Miss from the backside:
Notice the roof frames showing in one of the brick buildings...
Looking north at Lincoln as the circulation/lowering passes over:
Wall cloud could be seen just to the east of Lincoln
Chip
Sat in Wapello, IA for much of the afternoon to have a way to cross the Miss river north/south depending on where convection fired. When the weak convection along the disturbance passed over we watched several cums go and then quickly die. One in particular towards the end actually was a little LP-ish one that even rotated. That is when we decided things were going to go along that convection as it moved east. We decided to head south and follow the southern most cell as it was in the most favorable shear.
It went tor warned and had a decent base....and then we made a wrong turn (we forgot our GPS, somehow) and lost the storm in a confusion of backroads. Finally gained barrings and headed west....right into Elmwood. I took a few as we drove through but the movement in the car, coupled with my weakeness of evening photography led to only a few to come out. Here is a view of downtown with debris scattered about.
After giving up on the storm and encountering more blocked roads into Peoria, we decided to head south and check out the next sup that was an HP mess. Tried to get backlit lightning but just way to much rain. It shelfed out and then we dropped further south and got on the last storm of the night just west of Lincoln. It was more classic in nature and showed great structure as it passed over the city. When it passed over, the rotation tightened up and a very low wall cloud/funnel was evident near the ground. As it moved further east it looked nearly in contact to the ground and it is the exact time of the Beason report. It is very likely there was a tornado on the ground.
There seems to be a mix up on the reports of ILX and correcting the reports. It states that they corrected the Hopedale report but listed Logan as the county...Hopedale is in Tazwell... oh well. We will see if it gets confirmed.
Either way, good chase with the exception of the big snafu that caused us to miss the big show. Depressing also as people are sobbing and in chaos after a tornado too. Hopefully the Beason tornado made the day complete for us and not all that somber.
Thoughts and prayers to the families of those suffering in all the affected states.
This is the Peoria/Elmwood cell before it was warned just across the Miss from the backside:
Notice the roof frames showing in one of the brick buildings...
Looking north at Lincoln as the circulation/lowering passes over:
Wall cloud could be seen just to the east of Lincoln
Chip
Adam Lucio
EF5
Full report is now online including pics/video of tornadoes and damage plus several radar images. One even shows a BWER as the tornado nears Elmwood.
http://www.aerostorms.com/060510-peoria-illinois-tornado.php
http://www.aerostorms.com/060510-peoria-illinois-tornado.php
