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May 11-12, 2009 - Day
1-2
Quiet sunny weather
travel days
Driving from Cape
Cod, MA to Syracuse, NY....370 Miles
Driving from
Syracuse, NY to Utica, Illinois...755 Miles
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I departed
Cape Cod on May 11th for Syracuse and visited friends and
family. Severe
Weather was forecast on May 13th in Illinois and Missouri. On the 12th, I drove
755
miles from Syracuse to Utica, Illinois. As I
approached Joliet, Illinois that evening, skies were overcast. I
could see scattered thundershowers on my WXWORX Mobile RADAR
in central Iowa. I stayed at a Love's Truck Stop on
I-80. Thundershowers began after midnight with the warm front. The next day I
proceeded west into Iowa to await severe weather. The cold
front was entering northwest Iowa. |
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May 13, 2009 - Day 3
Severe Weather Outbreak for
IL, IA, MO and KS.
Driving from Utica,
Illinois to Davenport, Iowa and back to Utica, Illinois..
May 13, 2009 - Day 3-
Weather Data...
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Slept
at a campground near Utica, Illinois across from the Love's
Truck Stop at Exit 81 on Interstate 80. |
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Departing
Utica, Illinois the morning of May 13th after a night of
thundershowers and cloud to ground lightning as the warm front
passed to the east. A Tornado Watch was issued for Southern
Iowa and Northern Missouri after 1pm while on my way to
Eastern Iowa. |
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May 14, 2009 - Day 4
Departing Utica,
Illinois to Davenport, Iowa to Kirksville, Missouri....322 miles.
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Crossing The Mississippi River
again, in Burlington, Iowa. Driving to Kirksville, Missouri to
see the tornado damage. |
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US 61 South entering Missouri |
The May 13, 2009
Kirksville, Missouri EF 2 Tornado Damage..
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First view of tornado damage
entering Kirksville. Jim Robertson Car Dealer ahead. Lakeside
Estates to the left across US 63. |
Lakeside Estates, a
direct hit ...
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Lakeside Estates entrance with
destroyed trees... |
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I met Bart
Comstock from SevereStudios.com who was the only person that
filmed the Kirksville Tornado on May 13th. Bart and I chased
storms on the 15th into Kansas. See Bart's Video on the
SevereStudios.com website.. |
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2 x 4 stud embedded 2 feet in the
ground. |
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Flying object shaved the ground.
Area 16 inches wide by 36 inches long. |
Jim Robertson Car
Dealer Damage ...
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More than 50 new autos were
destroyed with building damage. The Weather Channel's Jim
Cantore did a live feed from the NBC Satellite Feed Truck. |
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Notice the Water Tank (below photo) and Cell Tower (above
photo) sustained no damage as they were in the direct path of
the tornado. An hour later, I spoke to a Cell Tower Employee
at the site, he said the facility was receiving and
transmitting cell calls okay but was on a back-up generator
due to power lines down. Aluminum and fiberglass insulation
was imbedded onto the tower. Dr. Greg Forbes from the Weather
Channel mentioned the Water Tank did not sustain any
structural damage. |
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May 15, 2009 - Day 5
Another Severe Weather
Outbreak for MO, KS, OK and TX.
Driving from
Kirksville, Missouri to Garnett, Kansas
May 15, 2009 - Day 5 -
Weather Data...
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After a
clear weather day on May 14th, we woke to scattered
thunderstorms in Kirksville as a warm front moved north from
Texas. Several storms passed with dime-sized hail and 1.25
inches of rain with some street flooding. The Storm Prediction
Center (SPC) forecasted severe weather south of Kirksville to
Kansas. Our target area today was south and west of Interstate
70 into Kansas. |
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Morning thunderstorms entering
Kirksville. |
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Bart and I drove south 70 miles on US 63 and encountered heavy
rain and vivid lightning until we passed the warm front in
this photo north of Columbia. The temperature and dew point
was 59. After we passed the warm front, the temp jumped to 87
deg and the dew was 73. We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Columbia
to check the latest synopsis. The Storm Prediction Center
issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for West Central Missouri
to Kansas City which later became a Tornado Watch. A mesoscale
discussion was issued early afternoon and 30 minutes later a
second Tornado Watch was posted for Eastern Kansas covering
the Interstate 35 corridor. That's Bart ahead of me in the
photo. |
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A strong line of thunderstorms
training 15 miles north of us on Interstate 70 east of Kansas
City with a wind outflow of 50 MPH. The severe line of storms
formed ahead of the cold front from Pampa, Texas to Chicago. A
strong 800 mile squall line! |
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Side view of the squall line north
of us on Interstate 70. |
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Hello Kansas!!!
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Driving southwest on Interstate 35 along the severe line of
Thunderstorms. At the Olathe, Kansas interchange, I stopped
and recorded the outflow winds at 56 MPH! As the line of
storms moved northeast to Kansas City, they slowly progressed
east. We needed to leave i-35 quick to avoid the storms. We
exited at US 59 in Ottawa and drove 23 miles south to Garnett,
Kansas. Our original plan was to go to Wichita as a tornado
warning was in effect for an hour. That warning had been
cancelled by 6pm. |
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Fueling in Garnett. Heading
south in a hurry!! (my 5th fill-up since Cape Cod. MA.
1,600 miles!). |
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Bart and I met the KOLR-TV 10
Springfield, Missouri Mobile Weather lab reporters/chasers. A
few minutes before this photo was taken, the Tornado Intercept
Vehicle and 5 chase vehicles passed by. We saw them fueling in
Iola, Kansas. |
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The Tornado Intercept Vehicle (T.I.V.)
fueling in Iola, Kansas. |
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South on US 169 near Chanute,
Kansas. |
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Rotating Supercell south of Garnett,
Kansas. Outflow winds were 48 MPH. Looking Northwest. |
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Almost dark |
Time to go home...
May 16-17, 2009 - Day
6-7
Rolla, Missouri to
Buffalo, NY...856 Miles
Buffalo, NY to Cape
Cod, MA...520 Miles
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As
this active cold front moves east tonight, this will be
the end of severe weather for almost two weeks as polar
air invades the country. I began my trek east on Kansas US 400
to Joplin, Missouri and arrived at a Love's Truck Stop in
Rolla, Missouri along Interstate 44 at 2am. The next morning the
cold front moved east to central Indiana. I caught up with the
front between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio on Interstate 71.
That severe line of Thunderstorms in Kansas last night
reformed in Western New York the next day and a confirmed EF 1
Tornado touched down in Georgetown south of Syracuse. I drove from Missouri
to Buffalo, NY that day. Woke up to 35 degree temp. That front
stalled in the Jet Stream here on Cape Cod for two days and
finally went out over the Atlantic Ocean.
I
didn't see a tornado on this trip but I had a great time
seeing the Kirksville tornado destruction and chasing storms
in Missouri and the largest supercell I have ever seen
in Eastern Kansas. The Weather Channel Vortex 2 team chased
from Texas to Oklahoma and didn't see much during that week of
May. I was hoping to see them, maybe next year as I plan to
chase from Nebraska to Texas. Oh yes, the Ford Explorer ran
great! Didn't burn a drop of synthetic oil on the 3,573 mile
trip! C U next year tornado alley!! |
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Total Trip 3,573 Miles |
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I will miss the vanilla shakes and
burgers at the Steak and Shake restaurants. Ate at this west St.
Louis location off I-70. |
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Interstate 70 east in St. Louis |
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Catching up to the Cold Front-Interstate 70 east. A strong
north wind, rising temp and dew point. I passed the Dayton,
Ohio Hamfest exits as it was closing and chatted with a few
hams on their way home, on 146.52 MHz simplex to Columbus. |
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