5/19/09 Wx Discussion

Well this is going to be dissapointing after all the "good" weather we have been having. (By good weather, I mean thunderstorms). Anyhow, it looks like the pattern has settled down for a while(....sigh).



We are currently under a ridge (500 mb) on both locations, which should lead to relatively sunny weather for some time. The current run of the GFS model, which can forecast out about 10 days, shows little action at 500 mb or the surface. There is really no action until we are about 6 days out on the model (in a realm known as "crystal ball realm." The models generally have trouble with accuracy that far out.). The precipitation that does pop up on the model appear to be a linear thunderstorm. However, models, such as the GFS, generally have trouble with thunderstorm (and you probably don't want the technical reasons).



So, overall, it looks like nice weather in both Alton and DeKalb. I guess we have to deliver the message of nice weather too.



Alton:

Tuesday: Sunny. Hi 77, Low 54.

Wednesday: Sunny. Hi 80, Low 58.



DeKalb:

Tuesday: Sunny. Hi 74, Low 53

Wednesday: Sunny. Hi 78, Low 55

An Unintended Chase

May 7, 2009. What a great day! I was moving out of college and going home for the summer. During the drive south, we had to go through a SPC slight risk. We ended up leaving at a great time, and we saw some AMAZING weather! I was driving, so my dad took the following pictures.

This wall cloud was between Lincoln and Springfield, Illinois. We were driving 55 south looking west. This picture also has a very nice rain foot to the side of the wall cloud. A wall cloud is indicative of a strong updraft in the storm. If it is rotating, it is a prime place for tornado development. It doesn't garuntee a tornado. The rain foot shows the precipitation falling and spreading the rain cooled air on impact. It resembles a foot.

As we got south of Springfield, we noticed another wall cloud. We pulled off the side of the road to watch this one for a little while. This one actually was rotating. It was really cool to watch the clouds form right off the tip of the rain foot. Neither of these wall clouds produced a tornado, but they were cool to watch!

This is another view of the Springfield wall cloud. You can see the rain foot wrapping around the backside of the wall cloud in this picture.

Here is a video of the rotating wall cloud. It is a bit difficult to see on the video, but it was rotating very nicely. (We also had a lot more time to watch it, so it was easier to see it rotate.)

Here are some pictures of this impressive storm we were under. These were taken outside of Litchfield, IL looking north:

Later that night, a storm rolled through Alton, IL. There was actually a wind damage report, as one of the older buildings had a roof blown off. (SPC Reports). I was able to see some hail from my house and catch some lightning shots.

I like how you can see the hail falling in this picture. I wasn't even trying to get this picture of hail falling, but I caught it and am quite happy with it.

Just an idea of how much hail fell. Mostly pea-sized, but we had a few that were around 3/8 inch.

I tried to get some lightning, but it is hard to photograph. I did end up with some interesting lightning shots:

Well, that's all for this time. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!