April 1, 2024

A potentially a bigger day for tornadoes, and without Jennifer Brindley Ubl, my usual chase partner, I teamed up with the lead of our local Skywarn spotter group, Sharon Robson. I didn't want to chase into Missouri, so we opted to catch the eastern most cells coming into western Illinois. We initially setup in Jacksonville.

Discrete tornado warned cells were coming into the St. Louis area, however, so we ran south down 55 and stopped near Pontoon Beach with a view to the west across Horseshoe Lake. There we waited for the cell to approach.

"East of St. Louis, MO. We await the storm on the Illinois side of the river, not wanting to get bogged down in traffic as a high-precipitation supercell lumbers through the metro. A warning is issued for a radar confirmed tornado. We are twenty miles away from the cell moving east at 25 mph, so holding the line at our great west facing vantage is challenging my patience. The storm finally emerges from the mirk, left edge of the updraft tower first. Sweeping arcs of cloud encircle the updraft like Saturn’s rings. The base is layered with other-worldly swooping striations and undulations. A block wall cloud hangs from the base, and beneath that a ropey column extends down toward the ground. In this moment, it looks like the coveted wide angle shot of the full supercell with ongoing tornado. But the rope falls to pieces in blocky chunks because alas it’s only scud. The alien shapes mean the storm is going elevated. It will soon turn left and wither away. Second chase in a row with a nice tornado look-a-like."

The cell withered as it went overhead and the light faded, so we called the chase and headed back to Springfield.