6/7/08 NOW: SD,NE,KS,MN,IA,MO,WI,IL,MI,IN

[MatthewCarman]

We now have a severe thunderstorm just se of Sparta WI. Radar also showing a TVS with this storm. A tornado watch has been issued for central/ne Iowa into central WI. Thought I would start a now thread since the day is starting to become active.

 

[Darrin Rasberry]

Rotation mentioned by Mr. Carman is now TOR-warned and heading toward Mauston WI.

 

[J West]

It looks like the storm(s) near Mauston and SW of there are turning into one huge convective blob as they move into the moisture pool. I don't hold much hope for a discreet cell in this environment.

*edit* New TOR warning for weak rotation over Clayton county, IA with the almost-discreet tail end storm.

*edit 2* Nice couplet in southern Juneau County and a new TOR warning in Northern Sauk to go with it as the storm is turning right and moving east instead of NE now. The warning text includes golfball hail and 80 mph winds. Yikes.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

The Mauston storm sure does look like an HP monster, and the velocity presentation looks quite impressive. Almost reminds me of the Viroqua/Viola storm from August 18, 2005.

Meanwhile the Clayton County cell may remain discrete if it can absorb the small cells developing south of it, or one of those may take over as the tail end cell as they move into Grant/Crawford Counties, WI.

 

[Andrew Stoller]

It looks like one huge convective blob, but the low level rotation/couplet is impressive at .50 tilt base radial velocity. Wouldn't be surprised if there is a confirmed tornado shortly.

 

[J West]

New TOR warnings coming downstream of the HP monster...new verbage from the ARX mets is getting worse: the tornado, baseball hail and winds in excess of 80 mph. The circulation has just crossed over I-90/94 in southern Juneau county.

*edit* Reports of house damage in Juneau county starting to filter in.

*edit 2* Looks like a new circulation now spinning up to the SW of the main rotation.

 

[MatthewCarman]

The storm by Praire Du Chien has a confirmed wall cloud with it and strong rotation. Northern Iowa is starting to light up with storms and se Iowa also has a descent storm. Looks like we have a very active day ahead of us.

 

[afischer]

18Z OAX/DVN soundings show 3000 and 4000 J/kg MLCAPE respectively. DVN has nice low-level thermodynamics with 900m MLLCL and 140 CAPE below 3km agl. Omaha still has some CINH to overcome (though negligible if the virtual temp correction is applied)... with 13.4C at 700mb (a little toasty). Both soundings show fairly modest low level shear exists in the warm sector of the surface boundary, with around 75 m2/s2 0-1km SRH for cells moving at 25035kt.

Edit: 700-500mb temps on the 18Z OAX sounding have warmed 2C or so since 12Z. Makes me wonder if shortwave ridging is occuring and how long it will take to get initiation across far eastern NE/far western IA.

 

[MatthewCarman]

The storm by Wapello in SE Iowa looks to have strong rotation with it now and I did not think that area was favorable for tornadoes. I guess I was wrong.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Grant County storm now has a mighty nice hook...haven't seen a radar presentation like that over Wisconsin in about 3 years.

Rotating wall clouds being reported just north of the Grant/Crawford County line.

 

[J West]

The possible tornado near Wisconsin Dells is not the only problem:

IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADO...THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
TENNIS BALL SIZE HAIL AND DESTRUCTIVE STRAIGHT LINE WINDS IN EXCESS
OF 90 TO 100 MPH. WIDESPREAD...SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE IS LIKELYWITH THESE STORMS. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION!

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

Joel Wright and I are south of Parkersburg IA heading west towards Iowa Falls on route 20. New cells firing near I-35 look pretty weak at this point, but we're hoping that changes real quickly.

Cell southwest of the Quad Cities is now tornado warned, which almost makes us wish we had stayed home lol. Save some gas anyway.

Awesome looking towers all around so we're hoping these cells west of us take off here real soon.

 

[J West]

The storm in SC Wisconsin has been a solid right mover for the last 45 min or so, maintaining it's rotation and heading towards the Milwaukee metro by 1900-2000z. I was going to head out to chase the SW WI storms but I now opted to stay put west of the metro area and let them come to me.

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

(This is Joel Wright on Jeremy Ludin's computer)
Cells really exploding in northern Iowa now. We're on route 65 heading towards Mason City. Nice back-sheared anvil on the big cell west of Mason City. Three distinct cells have potential the way it looks as of now. For now we're going after the northern most cell, but if the middle or bottom one start to look even better we may head for those.

Some other nice towers to the east as well, but we like the increasing helicity values from I-35 points west...

 

[Eddie Natenberg]

Large tornado reported earlier in Livingston County, IL. Southern Cook county and Will county now under tornado warning, southern suburbs of Chicago under the gun, strong couplet still apparent on radar with spotter reporting a new tornado near Braidwood, IL near I-55.

Eddie