Christmas Chase with the FIBs

Wednesday December 23rd was destined to be a chase day for about a week prior, the only question would be where. The initial thought was the mid south would be the only place to be. A few days prior a secondary threat started to materialize in central Illinois as deepening low pressure was forecasted to bring mild temps and spring like moisture to this part of the country.  The day prior the decision was made to stay in Illinois and target near the low pressure. Most models indicated decent cape and shear as well as showing a few rotating supercells developing in north central Illinois.

 

Wednesday morning we awoke to a slight risk of severe weather all the way into southern Wisconsin and a very evident, albeit small tornado risk in western and central Illinois.

 

I left my house in Janesville at around 8:30am to meet Alec Scholten in Rockton. On the way to Alec's house it was quite foggy, cool and began to rain. I remember thinking to myself "How is this even a chase day" We left Alec's house to snag up Brett Wright and began our trip to La Salle where we would meet up at Dennys with Adam Lucio and Danny Neal. 

After grabbing a bite to eat and looking over the day ahead, we decided to play west central Illinois.
The mood was rather festive to say the least and you could feel the excitement in the air as the sun decided to make an appearance for the 1st time of the day. While sitting and talking about past chases the Christmas music was loudly playing over the loud speakers at the truck stop we awaited at and then the music was broke by a familiar sound of cell phones going off alerting us a tornado watch was being issued for our area. (Christmas Music and weather radios) Never thought I would be able to say that together but chase on!

 

We set out to our southwest as a line of supercells started to rapidly develop in eastern Iowa and Northeast Missouri. How far west we wanted to go was the question, we ran a bit of disagreement to this as I though we would get to far west to have any good position as I thought storm motions would be a little bit faster than they were. After a brief discussion it was decided to continue west/southwest and try and get into position before dark.

 

We proceeded to drive south on Highway 67 towards Macomb when we started to get our 1st glimpse at the low topped cumulus towers and clear view of several bases from our location. During this time storms would start to take on quickly changing characteristics from looking good to looking kind of cruddy with no dominant storm making it's presence known quite yet. After continuing to drive south we decided to stop in the town of Roseville for gas and reevaluate our situation. After getting fuel we decided the southernmost storm was the dominant storm. (A decision we would soon regret)

 

 

As we continued south towards Macomb a train would block our highway and we decided to take an alternate route east and then back south as to not lose our chance at our storm. When we finally got back into position for our storm we got our 1st view at its base and updraft. It wasn't bad looking but not the greatest either but there was several intense lightning bolts shooting out in front of it that gave it the impression it was rapidly intensifying. We stopped along a country road for a few minutes to watch the storm approach when our phones once again alerted all of us to a tornado warning with a confirmed tornado just back to our north (Rememeber the train tracks) so we quickly spun around and headed back north to get to the storm.  As we punched through the core of our storm we encountered some heavy rains and gusty winds before coming out to a clearing on the other side and having a visual on the tornado warned storm, which was nothing more than a weak little updraft with almost no precipitation. We continued to follow this storm for a few miles while going through small towns with tornado sirens blaring and Christmas decorations hung all over the place, a very confusing sight.

On the tornado warned cell near Macomb
Posted by Danny Neal on Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Soon after the storm had dissipated and we were left with a line of dying storms that had one more great surprise in store for us. As the sun began to set the updrafts directly over our heads began to light up an amazing pinkish/orange color and started developing some awesome mammatus, something I always enjoy seeing!

After taking several pictures out the car window the sun would soon be set and our chase day was over, or so we thought.
As we traveled back north to get back to the highway home a small lightning-less updraft quickly formed and went tornado warned. After watching this for several minutes nothing would come of it and the warning was soon canceled.

Soon after this we would learn we missed a small rope tornado back near Roseville and then would learn of a violent tornado in the Mississippi & Tennessee area. Feeling a little dejected we began our trip home, but it occurred to me on the way home that we got to chase in late December less than 4 hours from home and got to see some beautiful things along the way as well as many many laughs!

Thank you to Alec, Adam, Brett, & Danny for a fun filled day!

Please be sure to like my page at https://www.facebook.com/WisconsinWeatherPhotography
Also be sure to check out my friends pages here for great weather info, photographs and more!

Adam Lucio and Danny Neal: https://www.facebook.com/illinoisstormchasersllc

Brett Wright: https://www.facebook.com/TornadoTitans

Alec Scholten: ( You can also book storm chasing tours through him) https://www.facebook.com/TwistedSkyTours

April 9th, 2015 The day that I wasn't ready for.

Like so many storm chasers I look forward to the chase days, the wording of "A few strong tornadoes possible" this is what I love to do, this is my passion. Also like so many others I knew a time would come when I would see things that I didn't want to see.
The morning of April 9th was no different than any other chase other than the fact that our target was within 50 miles from home, virtually in our back yard. As a chaser you are excited, as a resident of the area you have a few extra nerves going.
When we left Janesville that early afternoon we knew there was a chance of seeing a tornado or 2, never did I imagine we were a few hours away from seeing the most violent tornado of 2015 in the U.S. The conditions were coming together very nicely! As the day progressed I began to wonder if we would see any good storms as they kept dying from being choked off all instability. As it would happen a storm would form about an hour before daylight would fade into the early Spring air and darkness would set upon us. Driving through large hail shortly after was the highlight of my day at the moment, the sound of baseball sized chunks of ice thumping against the roof of the car was music to my ears.
When the tornado warning was broadcast with the words "large and dangerous & particularly dangerous situation" your heart skips a few beats. I remember the sight of this monster and watching it spin and rip trees and earth up and being excited about this.
Soon we would drive through a few small communities, always wondering if it was in the path of this monster and was our chase over to start search and rescue. Fortunately none of the small towns were touched to that point.
We had pulled over to watch the tornado, still large, fade into the darkness. An eery roar was all you could hear, followed by sirens from emergency crews responding to anyone that did need aid.
While stopped along the road all I could smell was this distinct smell of earth, like you had just been working in your garden all day.
As we sat and watched the tornado disappear, residents had begun emerging from their homes and driving around the area checking on friends and loved ones. As we sat there trying to come down from the high of what we had just seen, a couple teenagers pulled up in a truck very excited as the tornado had come within a 1/4 mile of their home. As we talked a little one of them looked at the lot about 200 yards across the field and said "Hey that was so and so house" Looking over my heart immediately sunk deep into my stomach, what was once a house was simply reduced to a concrete slab. I remember calling my dad and being able to emotionally muster up the phrase "If anyone was in that house they are dead" Fortunately we later learned they were not home at the time.
The short drive home was quiet for the most part as we learned of severe damage and at least 1 death in Fairdale. The next morning I returned to the area for a few interviews and was just in awe of the damage. Less than 24 hours before this was a quiet little bedroom community that was now literally wiped off the map. While I was there a press conference was being conducted to announce a second confirmed fatality, something I always dreaded hearing or seeing.
When I left that afternoon I felt sick, how could something I love so much hurt so many people and me be ok with it? I took the long way home that afternoon and realized just how important life really is and how quick it can change.
In the weeks following I made a few return trips to volunteer and had the opportunity to meet people affected and hear their stores of that evening, more importantly I was treated like I belonged there, they welcomed me with open arms and offered me pie and coffee and donuts, etc. Some even found ways to joke about how they got closer than I was or how they got better video.
I knew storm chasing that I would eventually see some pretty big damage, never did I think I would see something so violent do so much horrific damage and never did I think I would be so mentally unprepared when the time came.
To the people of northern Illinois, first responders, meteorologists, volunteers....You are all amazing people and did one amazing job that night!