7/10/08 REPORTS: MN/WI/IA/ND

[Michael Stanga]

Got off work at 12pm today, went west to intercept bow near Waconia, MN; did more video than pictures today. days like today remind me why I like chasing with someone else. too much for one person to do at times. all-in-all a great day closer to home, those straight line winds were good and fast today.

pictures:

http://www.thewxpage.com/071008chase.html

video (90MB, 12 minutes, ~10 uncut driving)

3min and 3:40 in or so shows the winds whipping the rain around, got some footage of some tree branches down as well.

http://www.thewxpage.com/stormchasingvideo2008.html -- the 7/10 video at bottom

 

[Joel Wright]

Just a little backyard chase today. Small supercell developed along the lingering outflow boundary left from previous storms. Was interesting to watch it evolve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCS-CHkeJD0

 

[Chad Cowan]

Watched the derecho that was spawned from early morning thunderstorms in North Dakota roll through Chicago 14 hours and 600 miles later in the form of a beautiful mothership-esque striated shelf.

Video here: http://vimeo.com/1320669

 

[Melanie Metz]

Another fun backyard chase. I was thankful the hail and high winds from the early afternoon storms missed my office in downtown Minneapolis. I was then pleasantly surprised as I left work ~6 to see a couple updrafts explode just to the North. On my way home along I-694 I stopped to shoot a few pics of a gorgeous LP. Amazing structure! What a wonderful surprise. Glad I decided to bring my camera to work.

Good luck out there tomorrow!

One photo is posted here. A few more are at the following site:
http://www.twistersisters.com/071008.htm

www.twistersisters.com/071008.htm
www.twistersisters.com/071008.htm

 

[Bill Doms]

Full set of pics from the day HERE

3 rounds of storms. Missed the nice cell Melanie scored but got to watch the tower explode while at a baseball game 35 miles to the southwest of the storm. Great job Mel.

Round one - watched several large trees go down including one about 25-30 feet. Had a flash back to June 14 2006 in Crow Agency Montana (Roger??). Could have just as well sat in the parking lot of the MPX office as I was only about 3 or 4 miles away.

Round two - more elevated junk firing on the intersection of two residual boundaries (which set off Mel's storm eventually). Did motivate me to invest in a lightning trigger at some point in the future though. No pic as I suck at daytime lightning.

Round three - the linear crap which rolled out of the MN/ND/SD intersection area. The only saving grace on this round was a spectacular night time roll cloud and at one point, double roll clouds from two separate clusters as they collapsed in close proximity to each other. The video should be cool as we shot a slow 360 degree pan in the lightning.

 

[Danny Neal]

Was celebrating my 21st birthday last night . My friends and I went to a minor league baseball game last night and was treated to this spectacular display of nature at around 8 pm! What a birthday present!

On a related note, the tornado sirens were set off and no one had any idea what was going on. (I had my NOAA WX radio with me and only heard of a severe thunderstorm warning) Once the gust front moved over the stadium the tarp was put on the field..... I have never seen so many people RUN out to their cars once the sirens were set off (without a tornado warning mind you) At first I figured it was nothing, but found it a little odd since our area never sets off tornado sirens unless officially from the NWS. Turns out it was for good reason as a funnel cloud was reported at 87th and Cicero Ave. (The minor league stadium was at 147th and Cicero) Did not expect to see that on my birthday

NOT MY PICTURE TAKEN FROM THE WGN WEATHER CENTER BLOG!!!! CREDITED TO CHUCK HAGEN OF OAK LAWN, ILLINOIS

This photo was taken at 87th and Cicero Ave. 2 Miles west of my house and 5 miles north of where I was last night.