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6-14-10
Today was pretty fun. Surprising and fun. I can't believe the structure and motions these tiny little storms had today. After seeing the tiny red blip in Muscatine county go tornado warned (which I couldn't believe), we decided what the hell and went after it. After not being able to chase setup after setup, we needed something to contain our sanity. I need money. And more time. Maybe I'll just stop working.
Shooting west through Aledo, looking at the south side. These things had some incredibly low tops. Definitely the smallest supercell I've ever been on, and quite possibly ever will. Again, for as tiny as this thing was and how low topped it was, this thing had some very surprising features.
Interesting lowering tucked back in there. This storm was showing obvious rotation.
One more thing I love about June: slower storm speeds. No more driving 90 mph only to NOT catch up with the storm. We sat in this first spot for a good 1/2 hour, and we were pretty close to begin with.
Fellow Storm Track member David Mayhew pulled up after a bit, but quickly took off as this thing wasn't looking that impressive.
We are now just northwest of Alexis, IL. We observed the storm for a good 45 minutes here. You can really see how low topped this storm is here, but still has a nice, persistant, rotating lowering.
This thing is forming a dual inflow type deal here. Pretty sweet when timelapsed.
Another thing that was pretty sweet too was the roar of the rain as it was approaching. Of all the storms we've ever been on, I've never heard that. It was sort of eerie, not sure why. The core was obviously not that big.
There was another storm forming to it's north, but this one was even smaller. It did have a lowering, but no visible rotation. That and moving across rain cooled air = garbage. We only stayed and watched it for about 2 minutes before we left for home. Oh yeah, and I saw a rainbow.
Here's the timelapse. Pretty sweet considering!
This storm was literally a yellow blip on radar. A tiny, yellow dot that I otherwise would have passed off as ground clutter on the radar return. With it being that big, look how this base looks. If we had better parameters, this could have been a very productive day. But, it's Illinois!!!!! We don't get that here. When we do, it 9 times out of 10 turns out to be HP garbage anyway.
Something that has been REALLY bothering me lately is seeing a bunch of chasers out there CONSTANTLY complaining about how little sleep they got or how far they drove or anything having to do with chasing. It bothers me because they are out there almost EVERY SINGLE SETUP. I guess I just don't understand how all of these people have unlimited free time and funds. I need to find out their secrets. It's obviously not their fault that I live in Illinois, but I can't comprehend how often these guys are out there and habitually complain about one thing or another. All I have to say is COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, wherever the hell they are coming from. Seeing as how I NEED to work full time in order to barely get by with all my bills now and finding very little time to get out there, I see nothing to complain about. I am just getting so sick and tired of seeing it on a daily basis on different websites or discussion boards when I get home, dripping with sweat and aching feet and back. Maybe it's just jealousy, I don't know. Obviously I'd like to be out there too, but I guess my main beef is all the complaining. Chasing is a full-on passion for me and there is nothing else I'd rather be doing than pounding the pavement every single setup as well, but that is just not fathomable. A two day trip to Kansas on May 10th cost me nearly $300. That is what's so baffling to me. Independently wealthy? Whatever the case, chase and chase all you can. I'm happy for you. Just stop complaining. You are complaining about little crap that went "wrong" even on tornado days while I'm watching through a computer screen 600 miles away.