7/18/07 REPORTS: NE / IA / IL / IN

[Bill Doms]

Humboldt, Wright, and Hamilton Counties of IA

I expected to see a shelf and that was exactly what we got. VERY green and very windy. Highest gust measured with the anemometer was 77mph between Clarion and Blairsburg in Hamilton county. Lots of 4" to 6" limbs down with smaller pieces scattered over the E/W roads by every farm place. Most of the corn was also pushed over to the southeast to some extent but should come back.

http://www.mnwxchaser.com/07july18.html

This video grab is not hue adjusted. It really was this green. The lenses on all three cams had fogging issues today...but then again we were very close to Algona, the snorkle moisture capital of Iowa.

 

[Craig Maire II]

Got blasted by 65 to 75mph winds in Tama and Benton Counties, IA along with witnessing an awsome shelf cloud in Tama County! Took many pics of trees down etc. in Mount Auburn and even saw an RV tipped over into a telephone pole! Its been an excellent week!

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

Waited for the bow to hit but, once AGAIN, weakened literally just over the IA/IL Mississippi border. Very disappointed. Got a few lightning shots, but that was it. Had the video camera mounted, camera ready to go...and got some amazing wind gusts of around 20 mph. Surprised my truck stayed on the road. Also drove through some torrential drizzle.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Chase in north central Nebraska near Spencer: http://www.extremeinstability.com/07-7-18.htm

 

[Chad Cowan]

Here are some lightning photos I took as the line moved over Chicago. The first two are video captures of a strike I recorded from my apartment window that struck around 600 feet from my building. The first photo appears to be a stepped leader with the two positive streamers emanating from the top of the building, and the second photo is ~0.06 seconds after the first and is of the main channel return stroke striking a tree on the shore of the lake. The blast from this set off car alarms. The remaining pictures were shot from the shore of the lake after the line drifted south over the city. The Navy Pier fireworks and the skyline made for an amazing foreground.

Tom Skilling posted these photos and my account on his WGN Weather blog:
http://blogs.trb.com/news/weather/weblog/wgnweather/2007/07/another_spectacular_set_of_chi.html

 

[George Grant]

Black Hills storms

We just happened to be on vacation in the Black Hills for a couple of days when these storms blew over. We had done a helicopter ride before driving up to Sylvan Lake to take in a hike and view. We then went down through the "Needles" on the east side of the mountain. Stopping there for pics, we noticed some towers to our north. If you've ever been up to the "Hills" you'll know that we couldn't drive fast enough down the mountain and back around to Custer before the storms had already moved south across SD 16. We tried in vain to parallel the southern storm along US 385, but we finally let it go when we arrived in Wind Cave NP.