An
enhanced -- later upgraded to a
moderate -- risk of severe thunderstorms was forecast with a late February system that rolled across the Midwest and Ohio Valley. After concluding lecture, I ran home to grab my gear and push south on I-39. Initial target was the Peru region. I arrived just in time for some messy tornado warned storms, but overshot them south and west as I hoped for further southwest development in "cleaner" air. I did get a brief glimpse while driving north on
sr-29 near Henry of an EF1 tornado in eastern Stark County ("
Castleton tornado") ... by the time I made it up to the bluff west of the Illinois River, I was left taking pictures of nothing more than a fast moving, rotating wall cloud. With this moving into the Illinois River Valley (not an easy place to chase), I frustratingly booked it south back to Henry, deciding to go after an
isolated cell near Brimfield (west of Chillicothe). I made the decision to head east of the river here, due to lack of bridges south of this location. This meant there was a chance I'd miss any tornado west of Chillicothe, but I wasn't about to be trapped by the river. I nervously waited near
La Rose and Washburn as the updraft headed in my direction. After talking briefly with
Skip Talbot, I maneuvered east down the road and watched the barrel come closer. It eventually dropped a wispy tornado that grew into a very large dusty (
18-mi, 600 yard wide, EF3) monster. With storm direction and storm mode acting disciplined, I let the thing approach me directly before scurrying south to re-position a bit. After having fun kissing the dusty tornado for a bit, I paralleled it east through the backroads between Washburn and I-39. It eventually roped out in dusty fashion near 39, before the parent supercell went on to produce a couple
more tornadoes in twilight near Dana, IL. Unfortunately, my dashcam video was bad ... some sort of internal residue in the lens made the video cloudy. Then, in addition to that, not having a charge on my best camera for the event ... I was in full-on technological failure mode on this chase. Grrrrr.
Barrel updraft rolls toward me just north of Washburn.
Tornado forms and quickly becomes dusty.
Stitch of about 6 images, illustrating structure.
Tremendous (relatively high-pitch) waterfall sound coming from tornado at this point.
After Washburn EF3 ropes out, this forms shortly after.
Another, separate tornado forms in twilight ... the NWS considers the previous two images the same tornado in the LSR, when, in fact, they were two separate events.
Short time-lapse and video from dashcam. Dashcam malfunctioned, as you can see. Thankfully, manufacturer has replaced unit even though well after warranty.
Will Wight captured video of me re-positioning near the tornado (not as close as you may think due to the perspective).
