Finally an IL chase.

 

Summary:

 

Left Omaha to target E IA or W IL en route home. Waited in W IL for storms to mature as forecast but capping issues ended up putting a damper on the day. One bow segment did track through Monmouth, IL and caused some damage. Called chase early near Macomb and headed to Monmouth to document damage before calling chase altogether and headed for home.

 

Stats:

 

Tornadoes: 0

Hail: .00"

Wind: est 70mph in Monmouth, IL

Miles: 520

 

Detailed Account:

 

We awoke again at Scotts house with high hopes on today. Afteral, today was supposed to be the main event for us with yesterday being the warm up. Forecast models along with SPC painted a nice scenario for supercells from southeast IA into northern IL and WI so this would be a fairly easy "on the way home" type chase. 

 

We departed Scotts around 1030am stopping for some Sonic's breakfast along the way. The drive was a straight shot along I-80. Storm speeds were the biggest issue today with active warnings already in place while we were driving, one warning actually mentioned storm speeds of 90mph!

 

At one point along I-80 we would drive through the boundary [cold front] which was very well defined by cloud cover. It was pretty neat to see the difference from one side to the other. The cold side provided some interesting colors and contrast to the sky.

 

 

 

 

On the other side temperatures quickly rose 10 degrees and winds shifted from the southeast and were pretty strong with gusts approaching 40mph. We were hoping this strong convergence along the boundary would indeed spark the storms as forecast. As we entered Macomb however, it became clear that there were grungy storms all over the place going up and quickly dying. 

 

We moved north to intercept what looked to be the best storm out of the mess, noting nothing more than a grungy looking storm with rain behind it. I am not even sure what I would call this other than a sucky mess.

 

 

 

It came and it went with nothing more than moderate rain. About 20 miles north damage reports starting coming in out of Monmouth and once we deemed there would be no more storms to go after we decided to go document it.

 

We thought the reports were fake at first as we drove through most of the town noting no damage at all. On the very north end of the town though there was one building that sustained some heavy damage with its roof being entirely blown off.

 

 

 

Ben and I took some shots and sat there for about an hour before calling the chase completely. Ben turned south to go after some tornado warned storms heading for the St Louis area and to get into position for the next days chase. I had to drop Danny off and headed for home. On the way back a surprise HIGH risk was issued down south as numerous tornadic supercells pounded central AR. The Little Rock area sustained heavy damage. 

 

Conclusion:

 

Today again did not live up to expectations. I am beginning to wonder why I am planning my chases for northern targets when the southern targets are the ones that end up producing. I will have to re evaluate future chase plans of this matter. I keep putting myself out of position for significant events down south and that is not acceptable. Noone was hurt in Monmouth and documenting the damage was the anti-climactic highlight of the chase. I would rather document storms than damage, but at least it gives me something to come home with.

 

Map, arrow shows location of damage:

 

 

 

SPC Storm Reports: