As severe weather season approaches (and is already off to an active start), I’d like to remind everyone that National Weather Service local offices around the country are offering free SKYWARN Spotter training classes. These classes are generally 2-3 hours in length and teach you more about storms and proper ways to identify and report them to the NWS.

More information on SKYWARN per NWS-OKX:

SKYWARN is a nationwide network of volunteer weather spotters who report hazardous weather to local National Weather Service (NWS) offices. Amateur radio operators and weather observers, generally operating through local organizations, are ideally equipped to contribute to the SKYWARN program. However, the general public is also an integral part of this program.

SKYWARN volunteers are trained by NWS personnel to recognize features associated with rapidly developing, mature, and dissipating thunderstorms which cause hazardous weather. SKYWARN spotters also provide reports of heavy snow, heavy rain and flooding.

SKYWARN spotters provide ground truth on the atmosphere that we observe from radar, satellites and various reporting stations. They are our eyes and ears, helping to provide better forecasts and warnings

Check out your local NWS office website for more information. As a trained SKYWARN Spotter, I encourage you set aside a couple of hours and go for the training. You won’t regret it and you will be helping your community and local NWS office.

Best regards,
Brett and the TornadoTony Blog Team

Although the title pretty much says all you need to know about this chase, here is an analysis anyway. I am not usually the one that writes here, but since I have the pictures and video, I will write it up. Tony will probably have to correct me on what I think happened.

On this day, there was a warm-front setup with a substantial amount of sheer. Although SPC wasn’t giving it much attention, Tony was predicting possible isolated supercells with tornadoes. As we got closer to the potential event, the SPC gave in a few hints that something was possible.

…NRN MO/SE IA/IL/SRN WI TODAY…

INSTABILITY WILL LIKELY REMAIN SOMEWHAT LIMITED CLOSER TO THE
SURFACE LOW TRACK…AS A RESULT OF THE ONGOING CONVECTION IN NE
OK/SE KS/SW MO…AND THE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED DRIER LOW-LEVEL AIR
MASS FROM ERN AR/MO EWD. WIDESPREAD CLOUDS WILL TEND TO LIMIT
SURFACE HEATING ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA…WHILE BOUNDARY LAYER
DEWPOINTS SHOULD RANGE FROM 58-62 F. STILL…VERTICAL SHEAR WILL BE
STRONG AND SUPERCELLS/TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE IF THE SURFACE CAN
WARM A LITTLE MORE THAN CURRENTLY EXPECTED NEAR THE WARM FRONT THIS
AFTERNOON.

Tony was predicting warmer temperatures than SPC predicted which would set us up for a successful chase. Unfortunately, it never cleared up, and the temperatures stayed at or below the forecast high. Furthermore, a large batch of precip to our south was cutting off the moisture supply. The map and storm reports showed that nothing happened in our area. Although we wern’t able to witness or document any severe weather, at least the people in that area were safe from it this time.

So what do you do when you drive 100 miles to Peru, IL only to find out that nothing is going to happen? Well, you take pictures of anything possible! And don’t hold me accountable for Tony’s state of mind on the way home from a bust, but why not share what I listened to all the way home? For your enjoyment: 100_7959