John Farley
Supporter
I saw what MAY have been a tornado or funnel cloud today while storm-chasing near the north edge of Springfield, IL. Or more like being chased, the way those storms were moving. Anyway, a minute or two after ILX issued a TOR warning for Springfield, I noticed a dark column extending toward the ground off to my southeast, probably a mile or two away. It was somewhat diagonal, not straight down, with the top to the SW of the lower end. My location at the time was on route 29 just south of route 124, near the north edge of Springfield. Minutes earlier, spotters had reported a tornado about 3 miles north of where I was, moving southeast. I had just turned south on 29 when the warning came over the weather radio, and I saw the column within a minute or so of hearing the warning. I could only see it for about a minute, and could not tell for sure what it was - looked like it could have been either a cloud lowering or smoke - though it disappeared after about a minute. One reason I could not tell for sure what it was is that I was looking through rain curtains just ahead of me that were surging to the southwest - and also had to concentrate on driving in the lousy conditions. Hence, no photos or video. And no way to see whether or not it was rotating. However, it was along the path of the meso, as the next NWS statement 5-10 minutes later reported rotation indicated by radar a few miles southeast of where I saw the column
At that point I thought I might still be able to get back ahead of the leading edge of the rain, but it didn't happen, as the storm surged south quickly and I got held up by traffic and stop lights. Shortly later, I broke off the chase and found a parking lot to ride out the storm where I would be safe from falling branches, etc. At that location, I got what could pass as hurricane video, except for the frequent lightning. Intense wind and rain that lasted for at least a half hour, with visibility falling to a couple hundred feet or less at times. Here is a video capture:
After the storm finally subsided, I observed lots of branches down all over Springfield, as well as a few trees, and power out in many areas. A lot of emergency vehicle activity, too.
I followed the storm home as it surged south toward the St. Louis area, where it also caused very widespread damage, including measured wind gusts of 84 mph downtown and 92 mph a little north of the metro area. No hope of catching up again, but a good CG show on the way home.
EDIT - 7/23/06: Full chase report is now available at http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/chase71906.htm
John Farley
Edwardsville, IL
At that point I thought I might still be able to get back ahead of the leading edge of the rain, but it didn't happen, as the storm surged south quickly and I got held up by traffic and stop lights. Shortly later, I broke off the chase and found a parking lot to ride out the storm where I would be safe from falling branches, etc. At that location, I got what could pass as hurricane video, except for the frequent lightning. Intense wind and rain that lasted for at least a half hour, with visibility falling to a couple hundred feet or less at times. Here is a video capture:
After the storm finally subsided, I observed lots of branches down all over Springfield, as well as a few trees, and power out in many areas. A lot of emergency vehicle activity, too.
I followed the storm home as it surged south toward the St. Louis area, where it also caused very widespread damage, including measured wind gusts of 84 mph downtown and 92 mph a little north of the metro area. No hope of catching up again, but a good CG show on the way home.
EDIT - 7/23/06: Full chase report is now available at http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/chase71906.htm
John Farley
Edwardsville, IL
So I busted down I-35 to the next wireless access rest area about 40 miles to the south. I got reception at this one and quickly signed my life away to have the priviledge of using the internet connection. It turns out that where I discerned I needed to head to, after looking at data, was about due west of where I was. So I headed back north 3 miles to IA 3 and busted west. I went as far west as Pocahontas, "The Princess City." 
