Friday, May 02, 2014

April 28th Storms

Central Illinois was under the gun for severe weather this past Monday with particular emphasis on a well defined warm front that was in place and expected to interact with an approaching dry line from the west. Though attention was predominately to the north along the I-74 corridor, favorable conditions well to the south near I-70 as noted by StormHighway.com would verify and become the more significant activity of the day. Development in eastern Missouri would quickly congeal into a severe warned linear mess. As this line propagated eastward, I decided to go south from Decatur towards Mt. Auburn and just wait for whatever may come. A cell at St. Louis lifting northeast earned tornado warning. Given my position in correlation to it, I dropped southwest through Taylorville towards Morrisonville after which I would stair step south and east on country roads to end up at Nokomis.

Morrisonville


Between Morrisonville and Nokomis




Staying ahead of the precipitation wasn't too difficult given the relatively slow storm motion. The lead edge of the severe warned complex I was paralleling is overhead with the approaching tornado warned mesocyclone to the immediate southwest. Prior to this shot, I saw what appeared to be a brief spin up out ahead of this area. Bearing the characteristics of a landspout, a slender tendril looking funnel cloud arced down to the ground and was churning up dirt in an open field. Unfortunately there are no images as it was gone before I could stop or determine exact location but from my vantage, it did not seem threatening. Nokomis is relatively small with a population density of roughly 2200 residents and surrounded by open farmland.


Continuing east of Nokomis and upon finding a decent pull off, organization was loose but persistent.


Complete push button luck as I was also not out of the vehicle much.






Traveling east to give some space from namely the intense CG's (cloud to ground lightning), the parent feature would briefly wrap up into its best funnel cloud display while I was driving. On getting to a safe pull off despite having seen it firsthand, it was gone. Though I missed it, Andrew Pritchard fortunately did not.


The cell would try to organize again somewhat while approaching Pana.


Continuing northeast into Pana, I would get pinged by quarter sized hail but then clear the precipitation with enough time to fuel up at Tower Hill. Eventually I would stop from just north of Shelbyville.




Not sure what the message is but this area would go on to produce additional funnel cloud activity at nearby Findlay along with future tornado warning. It was also here that I surrendered to the core and made my way back towards home. Thankfully in spite of a few significant wind damage reports, the region was largely spared.


Finally, near sundown.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Blood Moon

The first of four lunar eclipses known as a tetrad scheduled between now and 2015 did not disappoint in the skies over the much of Illinois. This was the first full event I was able to view since 2008 due to cloud cover with any other since. In spite of not having much time, I tried my best to maximize on that which was available.





Spica at lower right.




Mars at upper right.




I was not alone.


and neither were we!


Show is about over but...


We had to watch until dawn from the safety of some well timed nearby ice spikes!




This guy just showed up but hey, there's always room for one more!

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

March Miscellaneous

Here as I write from just north of a warm front that will creep slowly northward over the next 24 hours and usher in 70 degree high temperatures for Thursday, the winter from hell is exhaling its final breath. While just about everyone will be more than happy to see it go, I am grateful for having experienced some of the most incredible sky and weather drama of my bizarre photographic journey. The 2014 storm season ramps up this week yet for personal reasons I expect to sit out on many events unless they are perfectly timed and nearby. At least today's entry closes out three months of brutality on a positive note. Thank you to those who have supported me and best wishes to those whose travels I look forward to following over the coming months.

March 14






March 16


March 24


March 25 (Snow)


March 27




Later at Assumption




FROPA


March 30 (Ice Spike)










March 31