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September 12th, 2019 - N. Illinois Chase

9/30/2019

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Heading in to this day, there was some potential for severe t'storms and a possible local chase. The main questions were how much destabilization would occur, and where the warm front would set up.

A supercell ended up developing out of elevated convection moving into North-Central Illinois during the early afternoon. I ended heading out and intercepting the storm near Ashton IL, a bit after it had gone tornado warned. Upon arriving, the storm was interacting with the warm front, and made a serious attempt at wrapping up and producing. Unfortunately, due to the warm front being in a northwest/southeast orientation, there was a small window of opportunity to produce..in which it did not succeed. I followed along east with the storm for a bit longer just in case it tried to do something interesting, before dropping off of it and ending the short chase. On the way home, another storm developed and went severe/tor warned south of the original storm. It was well north of the warm front, even so tried its best to do something...but ultimately failed as well.
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If the warm front would have been oriented more west/east instead of northwest/southeast, along with not retreating SW, activity likely would have been able to latch on to the boundary, and would have had a better chance at producing and would have had longevity. 

Some pictures from this chase can be viewed below.
​Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: None
Hail: None
SPC Severe Weather Reports:
Picture
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May 27th, 2019 - N. Illinois Chase

5/30/2019

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This day looked like a potential severe t'storm/tornado outbreak-like day across the area, having similarity to other high end area events, such as 6/5/2010. There were very few concerns heading into this day overall.

I ended up heading out just after noon, with a target of near or just south of I-80...Between I-74 and I-39. Ended up passing a first initial supercell that pushed across the south Chicago metro, just as it was starting to get going in the far SW suburbs. However, I decided to not chase it, given it was heading into the metro and could put me out of position for the main activity expected further west. On the drive down I was also watching the cluster of tornadic supercells pushing from Southeast Iowa into Western Illinois, but was not fond of how messy and clustered they were. Stuck with the original plan and I made it to Princeton IL, prior to 2PM. By this time a few supercells had developed near Moline IL, and were starting to slowly mature and push east. I grabbed some food really quick in Princeton, before heading after the better looking storm just as it went tor warned off the the northwest. I reached the storm as it was approaching Deere Grove IL. At this time, the storm was outflow dominant and fighting other storm development nearby. Continuing to stair-step east with this storm, to north and northeast of Walnut IL, the storm continued to be fairly outflow dominant, as it ingested another storm or two...However, there was one point that it did seem to make an effort to organize for a sort time, with even a more concentrated area of rotation/lowering. I continued east with this storm through the Sublette IL area, eventually reaching Route 251. Through this point the storm continued to be outflow dominant, and there was also widespread additional t'storm develop, which would hamper further potential with this storm. At this point I called it a chase and headed home.

It appears that a remnant MCS over Missouri, and possibly the early developed cluster of supercells that pushed across Southeast Iowa/Western Illinois, are possibly two factors in why the potential across Eastern Iowa and North-Central Illinois was not realized. However, a significant severe t'storm and tornado event did unfold further east, across Indiana and Ohio.

Some pictures from this chase can be viewed below. Additional pictures can be found in the
2019 photography section.
Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: None
Hail: None
SPC Severe Weather Reports:
Picture
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May 16th, 2019 - N. Illinois Chase

5/30/2019

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Heading into this day, it appeared a decent severe threat and potential chase day was likely. The significance of the potential would revolve around an early day MCS, associated trailing OFB and potential capping.

I ended up heading out to make a play on an OFB area turned triple point across NW/NC. IL, with a cold front sliding southeast. The environment in this area was nice...With high CAPE, pooling of moisture with ~70F DP's and good shear. A stronger surface wind flow was lacking, however. I left around mid afternoon and made it out to Rochelle, IL by late afternoon. I sat in Rochelle for a while with CU bubbling along the OFB/triple point just to the west. A storm quickly went up and tried to beat the cap, going severe and up to around ~55k tops within 15 minutes or so. I quickly headed WSW to make a play on this storm and reached it just west of Amboy, IL, but it quickly died shortly after. Ended up calling it a chase at that point, with activity further west near the IL/IA border having little to no tornado threat, and also struggling against the cap.
Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: None
Hail: None
​SPC Severe Weather Reports:
Picture
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May 8th, 2019 - N. Illinois Chase

5/30/2019

0 Comments

 
Heading into this day, there looked as though there would be some sort of severe weather potential, but the quality and whether or not it would be chase worthy was in question. One of the bigger concerns was lingering rain and t'storms that were to weaken, along with cloud debris from this activity.

It ended up looking good enough for me to head west to Dixon, IL late in the morning. The warm front/triple point area looked like the main play across NW/NC. Illinois. The environment in place was featuring decent instability, good moisture and great shear, plus there was much more clearing then expected as well. I got out to Dixon during the early afternoon and was sitting there for a bit, when clouds and rain redeveloped over a large area and streamed back northeast across W. IL and further north, killing any potential threat. After sitting in Dixon for several hours watching all of this evolve, I decided to call it a chase and head home. Upon arriving home a line of t'storm did developed across Central Illinois, within the rain and cloud debris that had moved it...but no severe t'storms occurred.
Chase Statistics:
Tornadoes: 0
Wind: None
Hail: None
SPC Severe Weather Reports:
Picture
0 Comments

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