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June 21st, 2011 - NE. Illinois Chase

10/9/2013

This day was supposed to be the 2nd of two chase days, the first of which featured three tornado in NE. As mentioned in the June 20th chase write-up, me and my chase partner stayed in Des Moines overnight. We started the day by heading east, as the potential for the day looked to be near home in IL. Driving east through the day the threat just did not look very good, so we broke off and called it a day. Later in the day a line of storms that started off in Southern and Central IL started to push northeast into a more favorable environment. I decided to head south and play a play on the line. I caught the line near Sugar Grove, as it was severe and tornado warned. watching the line approach there was a lowering and frequent lightning. Following the line back northeast towards home, the line passed through with winds around 50-60mph, which took down some tree branches.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: 50-60MPH
Hail: None

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

July 11th, 2011 - NW. Illinois Chase

10/9/2013

This day really wasn't a chase per say...I happened to be out near Oregon, IL in NC. Illinois on a multi-day camping get-a-way. I had been watching this period for some severe potential, at least close by...which I would possibly
chase. Looking over things the night before, there looked to be some MCS potential, which would originate from action already ongoing in the Plains. The morning of finally came around and I woke up and found that a long lived derecho was set to move into the area. This line raced through and featured a nice shelf cloud and winds around 60-70mph, which flattened corn and took down some trees/tree branches where I was located.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: 65-75MPH
Hail: None

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

June 20th, 2011 - E. Nebraska Chase

6/20/2011

Me and my chase partner left home around mid morning and made it to the chase target of East-Central Nebraska by mid-afternoon. By this time there had already been a tornadic supercell which had moved from North-Central Kansas up into South-Central Nebraska.

We ended up quickly deciding to make a play on developing cells just west of York, NE. One of the cells quickly took on supercell charictaristics. We witnessed a funnel cloud near Stockham, NE. There was a brief/weak pencil/rope tornado touchdown in an open field. We then witnessed a rain wrapped tornado to our northwest, near Hampton, NE, associated with a secondary meso behind the main cell. A newer meso started to develop just to our southwest and ended up moving overhead, before dropping a longer lasting tornado just south of I-80, just south of Bradshaw, NE. This tornado crossed I-80 and continued north-northeast as we followed it. We did come across some damage, which included snapped power poles and an irrigation system that was twisted and flipped. This storm went on to produce one more tornado near Osceola, which we missed due to a blocked road.

This was probably the second best chase I have been on to date, the best being April 9th, 2011 in E. Nebraska/W. Iowa.

On this chase we ended up with three tornadoes which ties it with the 4/9/11 event for the most in one day/chase.

Some pictures and video from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the 2011 photography section.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 3
Wind: 40-50MPH
Hail: None

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

May 25th, 2011 - SW/S/SE. Illinois Chase

5/25/2011

This was a high risk day, though it did not pan out as it could have. Most of the tornadoes on this day were QCLS tornadoes, most of the discrete cell did not produce.

Me and my chase partner made it to an initial chase target of Litchfield, IL by mid-afternoon, as a line of tornadic cell developed in East-Central Missouri. We played a few different cell around Litchfield and southwest around St. Louis, all of which quickly weakened. We then made a play on one of the last discrete cells remaining on the Illinois side of St. Louis. This cell produced softball sized hail in St. Louis (which we missed by less than a mile), but we did end up with a wall cloud and a brief needle funnel cloud in Pontoon Beach, IL. This cell was quickly overtaken by a developing QCLS.

We then decided to race east on I-64 and make a play an a developing discrete cell in southeast Illinois. It quickly became tornado warn as we intercepted it near Enfield, IL. We encountered winds of around 60mph on the north side of the cell, before finally getting on the south side as we approached Carmi, IL. We then followed this supercell northeast up Route 1, the whole time it had a nice lowering/wall cloud. The cell was finally overtaken by the QCLS as we entered Mount Carmel. The QCLS ended up producing 60-70mph winds which brought down numerous tree branches and knocked out power to the part of town we were in.

This was a decent chase and we were on the right cells, but they just didn't produce.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: 60-70MPH
Hail: None

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

May 22nd, 2011 - E. Iowa/NW. Illinois Chase

5/22/2011

Me and my chase partner made it to an initial target in E. Iowa just in time to get on a tornadic supercell just west of Tipton, IA just after it had produced a weak/brief tornado. This cell had decent structure for a time that we was on it, but quickly became outflow dominant with the evolution of a decent shelf cloud. The cell along with other formed into a line, which pushed into NW. Illinois.

We decided to hang around in the area and see if any of the following cells would do anything, but they were undercut by the outflow from the initial supercell. At this point we decided to race east to make a play on the original cell/line, which had now taken the form of a bow echo and was pushing east across NW. Illinois. We were not able to get far enough north to experience the widespread damaging winds over 70mph, but instead ended up with a nice shelf cloud and 40-50mph winds at my position just east of I-39, near Hampshire, IL.

This was an alright chase, but it could have gone better.

Some pictures from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the 2011 photography section.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: 40-50MPH
Hail: None

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

April 19th, 2011 - SW. Illinois Chase

4/19/2011

My chase group made it to our initial target of Litchfield, IL by mid-afternoon. A broken line of cell quickly developed in E. Missouri. We travels east to make a play on the only tornado producing cell, which was crossing the Mississippi River into Illinois, near Louisiana and Clarksville. We ended up intercepting the cell near Carrollton, IL. At this point the storm had become outflow dominant, and we witnessed a nice shelf cloud. We continued east with what now was a cluster of storms and encountered two gustnadoes.

We then decided to just south and make a play on a new cell, which was moving northeast in the general direction of Litchfield, IL. This cell was quickly tornado warned as we drove along the north side of the meso and south side of the FFD. It formed several wall clouds all of which quickly fell a part. A bowl shaped funnel then formed and we did see a brief touchdown down in on open field via dust/dirt at the surface, which then diminished. Suddenly out of no where an inflow tail rapidly developed out of the cold/hail producing FFD to our north. This was very low to the ground, was accompanied by winds around 60mph and was rapidly being wrapped into the new rapidly forming funnel. The second tornado ended up dropping near Barnett, IL west of I-55 as we watched from the I-55/Route 108 JCT. The tornado crossed I-55 about 1 1/2 miles to our south and then proceeded to move northeast where it did hit a few structures near Honey Bend, IL before weakening/lifting southwest of Raymond, IL.

After the tornadic supercell passed and started to form a QCLS, we then decided to drop down to I-70. On our we down there, we ended up getting hit by the line which produced winds around 60mph and knocked down small tree branches. We finally made it to I-70 where we ended up following the line for a bit and then sat in Greenfield, IL waiting for what was the St. Louis, IL supercell to pass. It produced winds around 60mph and hail around marble size.

This was a great chase in which we saw two tornadoes, two gustnadoes, a nice shelf cloud, hail and damaging winds.

Some pictures and video from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the 2011 photography section.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 2
Wind: 50-60MPH
Hail: 0.50" (Marble Size)

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

April 10th, 2011 - W/C. Wisconsin Chase

4/10/2011

As previously mentioned in the 4/9/11 chase write-up, my chase group stayed the night in Fort Dodge, IA. We ended up heading out early int he morning, with an initial target just east of the Mississippi River, in West-Central Wisconsin. We made it to the target area by mid-afternoon, soon after storm initiation occurred. The first two cells we made a play on quickly weakened. Our third shot was on a developing supercell south of Eau Claire, WI. This storm had nice structure, but eventually got tangled up with another cell moving in from the southwest. Due to this issue and the fact there was another left moving slipping cell racing our way with very large hail, we decided to move southeast. After the splitting cell weakened, we traveled back northwest to make a play in what was now one main supercell. Along the drive we apparently missed two weak tornadoes near Augusta, WI. Our next decision was to jump off out of this area and off of this storm as there was too much cell interaction occurring.

We ended up traveling southeast to make a play on a tornadic supercell which had passed through the La Crosse area and was headed the Appleton/Oshkosh area. We ended up intercepting the cell and witnessing a wall cloud near Fremont, WI. The cell was becoming HP and another HP cell was right behind it, along with dark setting in, we decided to call it a night. The fun wasn't over though...We were essentially "chased" southward by each following cell which ended up becoming tornado warned and produced tornadoes. At one point there was a large rain wrapped tornado reported within a few miles to our north on the road we had just traveled on. Besides the storms making it an interesting ride back home, a large amount of construction on roads in this part of the state made for a headache.

Even though we missed a few tornadoes, I'll consider it a decent chase day given it was in Central Wisconsin.

Some pictures from this chase can be viewed below.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: None
Hail: 1.00" (Quarter Size)

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

April 9th, 2011 - E. Nebraska/W. Iowa Chase

4/9/2011

My chase group made it out to the initial target area in E. Nebraska by mid-afternoon. Soon after a cumulus field developed west of Fremont, NE. We quickly jumped on this and watched as a supercell slowly developed.

We followed this cell across the Missouri River into Iowa. This cell ended up weakening, but a strengthening meso with it essentially ended up being left behind and a new supercell quickly developed. this new cell/meso would be the main event for the day.

We were in Castana, IA when we first got a nice look at the meso/rotation, which was clearly visible and broad at the time, but featured a developing inflow tail. This storm had great structure. We pushed east into Mapleton, IA where we sat at a BP gas station and encountered some hail. All of a sudden the power went out at the station, we looked across the street in a field and saw our first tornado of the day touchdown. We ended up leaving town pushing eastward, getting stuck in the hail core for a bit. We had hail around golf ball size(some stones to 2") for around 30 minutes. We finally got back to the southern side of the storm after dark and witnessed our second tornado on the day near Odebolt, IA. We continued northeast where we saw a third tornado in the Sac City/Pocahontas area.

We eventually called it a night and began to head towards Fort Dodge for the night, not before stopping to make a play on a second tornado warned supercell moving in from the west-northwest. This storm had great structure and did have a lowering for a time, along with strong inflow winds around 60mph.

This is probably the best chase I have been on to date, as we ended up with three tornadoes on the day, large hail, and great storm structure.

Some pictures and video from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the 2011 photography section and additional videos can be found in the 2011 video section.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 3
Wind: 50-60MPH
Hail: 2.00" (Hen Egg Size)

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

April 3rd, 2011 - E. Iowa/NW. Illinois Chase

4/3/2011

This was the second chase on the season.

I made it to a rough target of Muscatine, IA by mid-afternoon. After looking over some data, I decided to head east. Storms quickly developed in East-Central Iowa after I was on the move. I ended up heading northwest to make a play on what was the northern supercell at the time. I ended up sitting on the north side of Tipton, IA watching the cell as it pushed eastward. It had interesting structure at times, but didn't have enough to produce.

After this I decided to head southeast into NW. Illinois to position myself ahead of the southern cells/line. I ended up sitting in Geneseo, IL along I-80 as the storm moved it. The storm featured winds of 40-50mph and hail up to penny size. I then jumped back on I-80 headed east where I encountered hail up to nickel size for most of the 50 mile drive from Geneseo to Ladd, IL. Blinding rainfall made it impossible to see any farther than the front end of your car over most of that drive too.

Some pictures and video from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the 2011 photography section and additional videos can be found in the 2011 video section.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: 40-50MPH
Hail: 0.88" (Nickle Size)

SPC Severe Weather Reports:

March 22nd, 2011 - SW/S. Iowa Chase

3/22/2011

This was the first chase on the season.

I left home in the morning and made it out into the target area by mid-afternoon. Cells quickly developed in SE. Nebraska, and pushed northeast into SW. Iowa. I targeted one of the discrete cells which was pushing through Nebraska City, NE at the time. Internet/cell coverage wasn't the best out in this area, but I was able to get enough data to make a play on this cell as it progressed through SW. Iowa.

I spotted an initial wall cloud to my NW, which was be a few miles north of Stanton, IA. I then moved a bit north on Route 71 to get a better view on the storm. By this point the initial wall cloud had dissipated and the storm was moving overhead. At this point I was near Morton Mills, IA where I let the cell pass, sat, took pictures and then began playing the tail end cell from the main tornadic supercell. I then proceeded to head east on farm roads before stopping again for more pictures. At this point I saw some interesting looking cloud features/scud (inflow tail) off to my NE. After hearing other chaser account and NWS survey info, it appears this was the general area the Massena tornado was occurring. After seeing that the southern tail end cell wasn't doing anything I once again continued east to try and make a play on the supercell approaching Creston, IA. I was almost due north of the cell when the first tornado was reported. I was never able to fully get ahead of it until it was weakening as it approached Osceola, IA. After reviewing more info, I now realize that I was close enough and in a position that I probably would have been able to see the tornado if on a hill...in the hilly terrain in this area. After making it to I-35 I found a hill near New Virginia, IA and watched as the line of severe storms associated with the cold front approached. This line featured a nice looking shelf cloud and the lightning was spectacular...probably within the top 3 lightning shows I have witnessed.

Even though I missed two tornadoes just by a bit, I was fairly happy with the chase given it was the first on the season and the internet issues I had.

Some pictures and video from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the 2011 photography section.

Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: 50-60MPH
Hail: 1.00" (Quarter size)

SPC Severe Weather Reports: