On the afternoon of the 24th, Central Illinois and namely point S, E and backing to the SW went under a slight risk for severe weather. Heading out and meeting up with friends Richard and Jodi, we ended up at Margaret Guzy Pothole Wetlands in Shelby county to await initiation. Nothing would come of it but I still found opportunity in the old barn.
We later toured lake Shelbyville area and then headed back west towards Assumption to rendezvous with chasers Jesse Risley and Brad Goddard of Convective Addiction. I have never met these guys so it was a huge honor.
We would end up having dinner with Jesse and Brad, all the while as a slow moving line of storms developed out west. Leaving the restaurant Jesse commented that a cell in Logan county was severe warned. Parting ways, we went up into NW Macon County to Illini Church for an intercept.
Once the line overtook us, we went S to outside of Harristown to spend time under the shelf which yielded some of our best shots collectively.
Review of the shots in sequence revealed an anticyclonic circulation behind the parent meso which briefly wrapped up into a nipple shaped funnel. I caught hell on Facebook for mentioning that we observed a funnel but it is what it was and neither a threat nor a big deal. Funnels are much more common than people are aware and likewise, I will never understand why people get so worked up over spinning clouds.
Heading E and paralleling the line, new development would shoot up in front of us outside of Argenta and yield the following.
Looking N at the former warned system which would intensify, die down and then resurrect (hate to use the word cycle), it was here we called it a chase and a highly successful one at that. Interestingly, I didn't think I got any good shots which did not bother me because I simply enjoyed seeing Richard and Jodi make some good scores.
As for the Historic October storm noted for breaking existing records for lowest barometric pressure of a land system, I basically got nothing. The powerful cold front that came through on the overnight of Monday into Tuesday had virtually no lightning or structure for being shrouded in rain. I did have a strong cell go overhead which briefly earned a meso marker on GR3 and the outside bore the appearance of being inside a dishwasher as it passed. The cut off line for the precip was razor sharp so I stepped out immediately after and got the following which shows this line as well as few lowered areas. Although storms had lost their previous warnings including that for tornado, winds and the subsequent wind shift were no joke with gusts easily exceeding 35MPH. A flicker of lightning above the low cloud verified these were low topped storms and had it been light, might have been highly photogenic. Still a very exciting and sobering system to follow for having adversely affected nearly 2/3rd's of the country in some way or another.
With post frontal high wind warnings in place for the region, I decided to take Ava to school. Heading home I saw not one but two Spotted Salamanders crossing the road. Measuring 6 inches each, I have never seen these in IL thus making this weather event all the more unique.
