Monday Storms / Leonid Fails...

Last Monday November 14, SE Illinois on into Indiana and Ohio was highlighted for a slight risk. Storms were expected to fire well to the E of our location and pose a greater threat of severe weather including tornadoes in another time zone. I didn't plan on heading out for this reason however, at initiation time, cells erupted back along the frontal boundary versus the hatched area further S and E. My thinking is that overnight convection which produced tornado warnings as well may have turned the area over thereby shunting new development till the CF arrived and especially for being the time of year with a significantly lower sun angle to limit recovery. I also noted a considerable amount of cirrus over S IL which probably didn't help. Experts are welcome to check my meteorology as I am just throwing out hindsight conclusion without any supporting data. Anyways, the surprise change in setup would make for an ideal local event with a few cells quickly earning tornado warnings not far from home.

Looking NE from I-72 towards De Land IL, this cell would earn tornado warning a short time later in Champaign county.


Same cell, now at Lodge IL along route 10








Bailing from the warned storm that was becoming shrouded in rain and heading into populated area, I turned my attention to new unwarned development to the SW. Two shot panorama of a developing supercell near Broadlands which is in S Champaign county.


Same location and now looking very promising as a mature LEWP (line end wave pattern) with the potential for producing brief spin up tornado. Though I could not identify any activity that may have been occurring, contrast enhanced image of the scene reveals the possibility of a circulation reaching to the ground. Since I couldn't make confirmation I never called anything in which may or may not be a foul on my part though earlier I did stop to advise a farmer I passed up the road near to where it would have crossed and was probably the only thing in harms way. I don't play into the whole hero chaser image which has been a hot topic of discussion in the weather community recently but will on occasion give a cautionary heads up when I see pedestrians or person's otherwise exposed to the elements. At the very least it's a courtesy in saving lives... from getting rained on lol. Time lapse video of this and another area of interest can be seen HERE.










Dropping SW a short distance on yet another developing cell, this was the tail end "Charlie" or last cell on the line segment which was clearly becoming outflow dominate and linear.






Keeping with the line motion and enjoying the simple pleasure of casual storm photography, I am now E of Allerton IL.








Continuing S to now N of Newman IL, abandoned farm that I wouldn't mind visiting again.


Even further S but still N of Newman.


I would gas up at Newman then go way down to S of I-70 along the Indiana border near a depressed spec of a town named Darwin to intercept promising severe warned cell. It was riding 70 and producing heavy rain which I didn't want to parallel under just to get across to Terre Haute. Uninteresting as it is for being close to nightfall, this was about to cross the state line. Though it began to wrap up and drop further which I could see after it had entered IN, I lost it due to being in heavily forested area with no nearby border crossing. I was hoping to get a shot from outside of IL just to say I "technically" got out this year but no luck. For some it comes easy, others not as much so maybe next season.


Skipping ahead to early Friday the 18th, I set a camera out in the hope of catching something with the annual Leonid meteor shower. During my first hour long attempt, I didn't pick up any meteors but did manage to image a passing bird being illuminated by the bright moon off to the E.


In my second hour long attempt where the moon would eventually slip in frame, I was fortunate to also capture a bright meteor though it was most likely something other than a Leonid for not originating from the radiant or in other words, point of entry.


In my third attempt which was 40 minutes and the only series worth stacking, I was angled as such to catch the International Space Station pass just before dawn. No meteors appeared though I picked up two exceptionally bright flaring objects. To date they are unidentified but are most likely satellites. Insets are cropped from the RAW files and unedited. The change from purple to blue is as result of dawn beginning to break. When you stack images they go chronologically with earliest to latest. I wish the pass could have occurred under total darkness.