Chase Report: June 7, 2007

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This was a high risk chase in the Midwest that resulted mearly from the fact that we were already there. With that said, we raced east after a fast moving line of storms and witnessed a small brief tornado before coming across the biggest hail I had ever seen!

When we left out overpriced Super 8 motel in Wagner, South Dakota at 8:30am CDT, we were laughing at ourselves for our decision to chase the high risk in Wisconsin as opposed to targets from southeast Kansas into central Oklahoma. We figured since we were here, why not go after it. Insane storm motions and horrid chase terrain were two of the negatives on this day, but we fired eastward anyway, leaving Amos and Eric behind.

Storms fired in a line early; shortly after noon, we were cruising through southern Minnesota trynig to catch up to the line. Several cells raced across I-90 to the northeast at over 50mph and became tornado warned. We focused on the cells to the south knowing we had no chance to catch up with anything north of us.

We dropped south off I-90 around 1pm to get into position on some storms to our southwest. We dropped into Houston, MN on MN-76 and held for a bit trying to view storms between hills. We decided it would be best to get across the river before dealing with storms, so we shot into La Crosse, WI. We took US Hwy 18 south of La Crosse, then jumped on County Road M which took us east, then north to the junction of County Road M and WI-33. We stopped at a gas station to observe a wall cloud, then decided the storm warrented following.

We continued north to I-90 on County Road M then shot east on I-90 when the storm went tornado warned. We blasted east on I-90 trying to keep up with the storm when we took the Tomah exit and jumped on a great highway in which the hook o the storm was literally running on. We took WI-173 through Babcock and into Wisconsin Rapids where we ran into a detour which ultimately lead us to give up on the tornado.

However, we think we observed the tornado being reported in town as we approached from the west. Chris has images of this feature and shows the tornado off to our east. We lost it due to rain and the downed power line which had the road temporarily closed. It was at this time, we jumped from our vehicles to snap some shots of the baseball hailstones left behind. Officials quickly reopened the road and we continued into town.

We arrived in town to witness grapefruit sized hail covering the west side of town. Trees were shreaded and cars were trashed. We stopped on Tyler Road and WI-54 to bask in our find. Huge hail left craters in the ground, holes in roofs, and totaled vehicles in the neighborhood. We talked with several of the residents about the storm as we fired photos and video for nearly half an hour.

After our hail indulgence, we toured town looking for signs of the reported tornado, but came away empty. We topped off our tanks and began our trek south on I-39 towards Madison and beyond. We stopped for a steak dinner in Janesville, then continued south to Rochelle, Illinois where we stopped to photograph lightning from the incoming severe storm. Much to our surprise, this rotating storm dropped a large, white funnel and enveloped us in a rain-wrapping RFD. We rode out the wind and pea-sized hail before wrapping up our 800 plus mile trip in our hotel in Normal, Illinois. Ironically enough, this is the second time Chris and I have shared a room in this Best Western. Last year in May, this was the hotel I forecasted my return trip to Circleville. Instead, I take a travel day back west tomorrow.

Today was a chase filled with a ton of goodies, certainly one of those career chases. A tornado, huge hail, lightning, the works. It was just about a perfect chase that had everything I could possibly ask for. So with that, enjoy these images!

HAIL DAMAGE IN WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI