Turbulent Storm
  • Home
  • Storm Chasing
  • Media/Licensing
  • Travel
  • Photography/Video
  • Resources
  • About/Contact Me

June 22nd, 2016 - N. Illinois Chase

8/19/2016

0 Comments

 
Potential for this day showed up a few days out, with some similarity to the previous years event (6/22/15), which was a localized significant event. The potential varied on model guidance, with a few potential issues showing up as well. These issues included early day storms and debris, warm front position, and capping. All of which were sorted out in the end to create a localized significant event.

As usual, there was hesitation and procrastination to leave on a local day. Storms developed in E. Iowa and NW. Illinois during the mid-afternoon hours. We decided to leave and head west to intercept the storms as they pushed east-southeast and continued to strengthen. We made it to the vicinity of what was now a string of supercells, with tornadoes already reported.

Approaching from the northeast, our best option was to make a play on the furthest north supercell, which was approaching Earlville and Leland. We gained a good visual of the storm on Route 23 south of Leland, where we witnessed the end of the Earlville tornado. As the storm approached we took a quick jump south, then east on Route 52, finally back northeast on Route 71 to Newark. We made a quick stop in Newark, as a new circulation was a few miles to our west-northwest, northwest of Sheridan. This circulation passed just to our south in a weakening phase as we sat in Newark, witnessing a wind shift.

As the storm passed we decided to call it a chase given some flooding was occurring, darkness had set in, and storms were moving in a not so favorable southeast direction.
Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 1
Wind: 50-60MPH

Hail: 0.88" (Nickel)
SPC Severe Weather Reports:
Picture
0 Comments

March 30th, 2016 - W/C. Iowa Chase

4/4/2016

0 Comments

 
As usual, this day had shown potential several days out. The potential varied on model guidance, with a few potential issues showing up as well. Timing, ongoing storm activity through the day and associated cloud debris, veer-back wind profiles, and surface wind direction were all potential issues ahead of time. Timing ended up working out in the end, but the other two issues were still a problem, along with moisture return further north across N. MO.NE. KS/IA as well.

We left early Wednesday morning, with an initial target in the vicinity of Emporia,KS along the dry line. Making it to Des Moines before noon, the decision was made to play the triple point in E. NE/IA instead. This decision was based on ongoing activity in OK/KS/MO/AR potential creating problems with the initial KS target. We sat in Des Moines for a few hours watching things, before finally heading southwest to Atlantic, IA.

While sitting in Atlantic for a while, there were a few attempts at storm initiation to our west along the dry line and to the northwest along the surging cold front racing southeast. Eventually a storm did develop along the intersection of the cold front and dry line to the west of us. At the same time, a storm developed well to our southeast in S. Iowa. Both storms slowly matured, with the storm to our southeast becoming interesting a bit more rapidly. After pondering which storm to go after for a bit, we decided to head northwest towards the storm on the triple point, even though there was a good chance it would be undercut by the surging cold front. While heading towards this storm, the storm that had developed in S. IA quickly began to weaken, and eventually diminished.

Upon making it to our storm, it was already being undercut by the surging cold front. Unfortunately, this was the only interesting storm in the area, so we continued to follow it. There storm stayed just on the north side of the boundary, which kept it somewhat interesting, as it pushed ENE. We tracked the storm east to Des Moines, before finally dropping off of it and calling it a chase.


Some pictures from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the 2016 photography section.
Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: 40-50MPH

Hail: None
SPC Severe Weather Reports:
Picture
0 Comments

March 15th, 2016 - W/C. Illinois Chase

3/18/2016

0 Comments

 
This day showed potential to be the first chase day of the season several days out. Leading up to the event the main question in the end was available moisture, and how high dew points would get, which would dictate the tornado potential. 

We left home late morning, with a target area in far Western Illinois, likely in the Keokuk to Hannibal corridor. We made it out to Jerseyville, IL by mid afternoon, we we decided to sit and wait for initiation to occur further south, and initiation had already occurred further north. Some time passed, and there were finally some attempts at initiation just to our southwest. Unfortunately the first few attempts failed, before things finally took off and two supercells formed.

We had a nice view of the northern supercell, which slowly matured. I featured a nice structure, which included a nicely sculpted meso, and produced some marble (0.50") hail at our location. This storm showed some broad and weak rotation, but never could do more than that. During this time, the supercell to the south was also maturing, and was looking a bit better. We ended up heading east on I-72 to make a play on the southern storm. While heading east the southern supercell gained some weak rotation and became tornado warned, while the northern supercell started to fade as the southern one became more dominant. 

Continuing east on I-72 to New Berlin, and then south on a side road, we got view of the storm continued to have wall clouds and funnel clouds from time to time. While heading ENE on Old Route 54 to the southwest of Curran, rotation quickly tightened up, and a tornado touched down. The tornado was never fully condensed, with the visible funnel only halfway to the ground, but a bowl of dirt/debris was visible on the ground under the funnel. The tornado persisted several minutes as it pushed northeast towards Springfield, but luckily it lifted before moving into town and more populated areas. This tornado was rated an EF-1 by NWS ILX.

We continued to followed this supercell storm northeast for several more hours, as it continued to have a wall cloud from time to time. We eventually dropped off of it near Kankakee, as it was overtaken by a line of severe storms.

Some pictures from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the
2016 photography section.
Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 1
Wind: 40-50MPH

Hail: 0.50" (Marble Size)
SPC severe Weather Reports:
Picture
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    2011 Storm Chases
    2012 Storm Chases
    2013 Storm Chases
    2014 Storm Chases
    2015 Storm Chases
    2016 Storm Chases
    2017 Storm Chases
    2018 Storm Chases
    2019 Storm Chases
    2021 Storm Chases
    2022 Storm Chases

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly