7/27/08 REPORTS: IA/MO

[Darrin Rasberry]

Drove out to near Fort Dodge earlier this afternoon and chased a high-wind monster down through Boone County. Although the majority of the storm was clearly outflow-dominant, we ended up on a nice rotating meso at the far edge of the storm (or at least a notch, we went w/o radar beyond a few grabs on the cell) and just about ran ourselves right into the bear's cage near Luther, IA. Upon receiving word that the cell we were watching became tornado-warned, I thought better of driving too close for the hail, and given the acceleration of the system, I decided to bail back to observe the incoming winds rather than "risk it."

The leading-edge rotation quickly became shielded with rain as it passed to our south (SE motion 50+mph) and we got a treat of absurdly high winds - at least 60-70mph. Large branches were ripped apart and ended up sometimes dozens of yards from their parent trees. Temp went from a moderate July day back to mid-April quickly, and we decided to grocery-shop and let it go by instead of punching back through. Driving to Ankeny (a short hop from where we were) we saw trees snapped in half and construction cones blown linearly on the highway, and what appeared to be a line of people wanting to get under an overpass, extending to about fifty yards from the uh "cover." They slowed I-35 flow to a halt. /:

All in all, a worthwhile chase for just five bucks of gas. We'd planned to go much further north before the MCS wrecked that possibility this morning, so I decided to base out of home given what appeared to be a SW/SE wind shift boundary (not the official warm front) near Ames. It paid off, but we could have possibly seen more if the storm motions didn't pick up from 30 to near 60 at such a rapid pace ... but eh, play it safe and you'll live to see the slower storms another day.

No pictures; some shots were taken but the storms were not picturesque.

Thanks to Craig Maire II for nowcasting and relaying warnings through his own situation up in Grundy Co., when our severe WX radio finally gave up the ghost. Radio Shack is now officially on our blacklist.

D.

 

[Dan Melby]

Went out for a very brief chase south of Ames today. I am in the middle of moving so I had no intention of chasing today. But since it was so close I went out for a little bit. I was also ont the tornado warned storm near Luther. It did not look too impressive, so I let it pass over me near Huxley while it was still TOR. Had some pretty impressive winds but nothing that really looked like it could produce, and somehow I missed the hail..
The crazy part of the day happened when I got into Ames and stopped at the Caseys to get gas, just as the cops flew in to the parking lot. I was pushed out of the lot and later found out that a murder had happened inside the Caseys about 5 minutes before, 2 blocks from my house. Needless to say, I decided to call chasing off for the rest of the day..
Couple of the very few pics I took East of Luther as it was tornado warned.. Nothing too impressive.

 

[John Farley]

Tried to get some lightning pics looking across Dunlap Lake as the MCS approached Edwardsville, IL around 10 p.m. It was a challenge, so warm and humid the lens kept fogging over. Did manage to get one pic showing the laminar structure over the leading edge of the gust front:

Fortunately the line weakened as it moved into the STL area, with only scattered reports of minor wind damage in the metro area.