Welcome to the soup (77 over 72 before 10 am in Hannibal, MO). Could be an ugly day, as there is already a bow echo just to our north, which is where we sort of wanna go.
There is the potential for seriously severe thunderstorms following the bow echo, and some of it could be tornadic, but they will likely be very fast-moving and hard to catch, so being ahead of them is important. This will require some delicate needle threading, or just accepting that we will have to engage with the bow echo, preferably on our terms. Right now the plan is to head for Peoria, IL to make the best of the worst possible choices.
Overnight thunderstorms resulted in over four inches of rain around us, which can make things complicated due to potential flooding, especially if there's more heavy rainfall today.
Beautiful bookend vortex on the north end of the line.
Saw some beautiful shelf clouds and structures with some of these storms. Casey's expert driving got us to thread the needle on some of these intense storms.
Heading north towards the Quad Cities, it appears we've been struck by lightning.
Geneseo, IL. Our first McDonald's of the trip (thank God). We're waiting for storms to fire. One of the things people don't realize about storm chasing is the sheer magnitude of just hanging around one is forced to do.
Left Geneseo to travel generally southward to catch a tornadic storms in northeast Missouri, not far from Keokuk.
Macomb, IL (Western IL University)...tornado sirens. Passed a Doppler on Wheels (DOW) truck on the way, which tells me we're on the right track.
The great weather kahuna smiled on us after all, and we were blessed with some beautiful cloud structures (shelf clouds, wall clouds, etc.) associated with this supercell.
This looked pretty real, but I'm guessing it was an amateur storm chaser with a sense of humor.
Here's where it gets interesting. We're near Ipava, IL:
Our first and only tornado of the trip. It was small and most likely weak (EF-0 or EF-1), and while it was my 17th (out of seven chase trips), it was the students' first, and you can probably imagine their excitement. The greenish tint on the horizon is likely sunlight being retracted through hailstones.
From the radar image below, you can see how the gaps are being filled in between the discrete cells, and the system is undergoing upscale growth, turning into a mesoscale convective system (MCS), which turns the predator into prey. The dangers posed by a typical MCS is strong wind and heavy rain, neither of which by themselves makes for pleasant travel, let alone both. The chase was effectively over, and it was wise of us to get out of its way. In the process, we ran into some modest hail, so the kids can mark that on their storm chase bingo card.
Sometimes you're in the exact right place at the perfect time. We drove to Peoria, IL (where a tornado had likely come through earlier in the day) and had dinner at a local restaurant known primarily by the pepper logo and annoying earworm jingle about ribs. Upon finishing, we found ourselves treated to quite possibly the most fantastic mammatus display. There were several people outside taking it in, and one of them even knew the proper name for these beautiful, eerie clouds.
If this wasn't the top chase day of my career, it will be tough to beat. What a way to end the trip. Tomorrow we start the arduous journey east, stopping along the way to visit a park or two.
Here is a summary of today's severe events:
Final tally: two states, 394 miles (4077 total, but only about 100 miles from where we started), and 12 deliriously happy meteorologists. Thank you, Peoria, we love you!
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