6/1/2007 Northwest Illinois Chase

Today's chase was somewhat unexpected ... I assumed some storms would go "severe" in Iowa, but had no inkling that the convection embedded within the line west of the Quad Cities would turn quickly supercellular in the late morning. After hearing of a tornado warning (and subsequent confirmation of a tornado) in eastern Iowa within this convection, I decided to head westbound on I-88 to catch the line as it moved across the Mississippi. As I approached the line near Erie, IL, it did show some interesting rotation and I was able to grab this vid capture ...

Video capture showing interesting lowering and a nice bolt.

The lowering did have some rotation, but I could not tell just how strong that rotation was and whether or not it was a funnel (I forgot my binoculars). Anyway, I dropped a bit further south as new notches appeared within the line every once in a while. Thanks to Gilbert for a bit of nowcasting support as I lost internet access for a while near Walnut, IL.

One of the many lowerings with weak rotation -- or "bowl-type" wall clouds -- that appeared every once in a while. These all seemed to quickly fill in with rain in a matter of 10 minutes or so as storms to the south seeded each weak meso.

Things trended toward outflow dominance and I eventually began the scenic route back to DeKalb ... pausing every once in a while to take a picture or two.

Typical view of the storms as they became outflow dominant.

Overall, not a bad day. I was reminded of just how great the IL road network is ... now, if we can just get a few storms to chase on that road network! Hopefully this chase is a sign of things to come as the pattern appears to be undergoing a change (finally!). At this point, I may have one more local chase tomorrow before heading to the Plains on Tuesday/Wednesday. I'll update if/when I decide to make the trip.