Local chase of tornado warned storm near Decatur, IL noting gustnado that was likely reported by spotters as a tornado. Dramatic looking structure but not strong rotation or motion was noted.

Crew and Equipment

Solo chase. Equipment: Sony AX100, Canon 60D with EFS 10-22, Samsung S9.

Video

Map

Details

Rain Free Base
2 miles S of Curran, IL
6:35 PM

I waited all day before pulling the trigger on this chase, not particularly thrilled with the setup. Storms went up by evening so I decided to go after them. A rain free base south of Springfield:

Glowing Core
2 miles SSW of Illiopolis, IL
7:16 PM

Running east toward Decatur:

Scuddy Gust Front

Some scud rising off the ground that was non-tornadic:

I tracked the storm toward Decatur, noting a gustnado on the lead edge of the lowering to my north. Another spotter reported a tornado at about this time, which I believe was probably this feature. Viewed from the northeast it would have looked well co-located with the wall cloud, but I could tell it was being driven by outflow on the gust front.

Non-rotating Lowering
5 miles NW of Decatur, IL
7:37 PM

ILX issued a tornado warning for the storm in response. I got in the notch to check it out as there was no more view from the south. The sculpted base and lowering looked dramatic, but there didn't appear to be any real rotation or strong motion in general, and velocities were unimpressive on the radar. Looking west down the notch:

Turning back east as the front moved overhead. The pointy shaped lowering, now front lit white, looked impressive, but again motion was weak.

After Chase Stop
Forsyth, IL
8:13 PM

I got caught in the forward flank core for a bit as the storm weakened, and then called the chase. I stopped at the Steak'n Shake in Forsyth as the storm moved off to the east, lit up pink in the setting sunlight.

Conclusion

Not a bad chase for how local it was and how low my expectations were. There were some photogenic and dramatic looking moments, but the tornado warning was likely a bust with mostly outflow driven gust front structure.

Lessons Learned

Follow On The Web!