Storm Chase Details
Miles Logged: 852
States Chased: MO, IA, IL
Tornadoes Witnessed: 2
Spotter Network Reports: 3
- Funnel Cloud 4 miles W of BASCO, IL
- Other 0 miles NNE of BATH, IL
- Other 2 miles SW of CHANDLERVILLE, IL
Severe Reports: Storm Reports
After a successful day on the previous day in NW Missouri, I decided to stay in Keokuk Iowa. After working in the morning, I headed out in the afternoon to look at clouds.
Hanging around Keokuk
I mostly did not stray too far from Keokuk, originally heading east with the severe thunderstorm/morning MCS that moved through. I was skeptical on the airmass recovery when the MCS was going through at lunch time. Nonetheless, I could see the real juicy air was not far away. The Outflow boundary from the morning storms was an effective warm front. As it lifted back north, I lost sight of that as storms started to kick off near Kirksville. After sitting near Hamilton, I decided to reposition a little west into Missouri in Wayland.
Supercell near Keokuk
As soon as I saw this storm starting to mature, I knew I’d want to get east of the river and catch it after it crossed the river. I made the trek through Keokuk and across the river into Hamilton Illinois again. I staked out a good spot on one of the rural roads east of town with a view. It would not be long before this storm came into view – And it had a nice wall cloud on it.
The storm seemed to be turning a little more right than anticipated, so I dropped a little south. The roads were nicely gridded for the most part and paved in this part of Illinois. The storm was forming quite the mesocyclone, but I noticed there was multiple updrafts. A lot more slop seemed to blow up around it, with one of the updrafts actually creating a brief funnel.
I headed west towards the funnel and then continued my way back to the east. Storm speeds were moving pretty quickly, and the crowds were closing in on the storm quickly. I continued on the back roads until I came across IL Highway 94.
Carthage Illinois Tornado
As I adjusted north on highway 94 I started running into the chaser hordes. I chose to continue east, witnessing the Carthage Illinois Tornado rope briefly in my rear view mirror. I was in no place to stop on US-136 at the time, so I decided to stay ahead to catch it if it wrapped up a second more significant tornado.
My maps were a little outdated as they had built a by-pass around Tennessee and Colchester to the south. I tried to scoot around the south side of Macomb, but the road I wanted to take was closed. I called an audible and decided to continue on the bypass highway to the north side of Macomb at US67. From there I zig-zagged east on the back roads, getting east to Bushnell and then south to highway 95.
I took highway 95 east all the way to highway 97 in Cuba. I tried to get a view on the storm at this point, but the trees in the area made it next to impossible, so I dropped south on 97.
Ipava Illinois Tornado
As I was coming out of the rain north of Lewistown, I spotted the little rope near Ipava off to my southwest. I was a decent distance away and I only caught the last 20 seconds or so of it. I found a place to pull off and started observing the storm again from the rain-free area.
Calling the Chase and heading Home
As the storm approached, I could tell it was beginning its push into outflow dominant. I did some navigating and realized the Illinois river was going to screw me over one way or another. I decided to start heading home. The hope was to get to the Kansas City metro area, but I was able to get all the way to Wichita around 2am. I finished the drive home the next afternoon and prepared for the next trip out.
