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

A couple of big stones.

Huge stones 20 minutes after the storm passed.

This says it all; unfortunately I left the damn bill in the street! LOL

Another stone.

A MySpace shot taken by Chris!

Back window of a resident’s car.

The front windshield with 3 huge smash marks.

This poor girl; this was her first car… it was trashed!

What most yards on this side of town looked like.

A baseball hailstone with tons more in the background.

Check out the crater left in the ground by one of the hailstones.

Two large stones and a crater.

LIGHTNING IMAGES FROM ROCHELLE, ILLINOIS

The first shot I took; an exposure check. It worked!

Cool cloud shot with lightning illuminating the structure.

CG strikes below the supercell.

Brought the zoom lens and started shooting CGs.

A good CG strike.

Another good CG shot.

Exposure shot showing white funnel as it moved quickly northeast.

One of my most intense and incredible chasing experiences would take place today south of Seymour, TX. Not before a short drive from Wichita Falls to Ranger, TX where we met with Amos Magliocco and Eric Nguyen at a small cafe in town. After a fuel fill-up and some data, we elected to fly north from Ranger to catch what was being dubbed in online forums as a “sucker storm”; boy did we get horribly suckered getting after this! ;o)

Chasers in discussion of this storm as it was ongoing were impressed with radar signature, but were highly doubtful of its potential and tornatic views due to road networks, etc. We blasted north on US Hwy 183 and arrived several miles south of Seymour just as the meso neared the highway. We got positioned right in the hook of the storm and had the experience of a lifetime!

The circulation began to rapidly intensify as we trekked north. Our hope was to get into Seymour and blast east ahead of the storm, but that wasn’t to be. As we slowed, we were one of three vehicles on this road; Amos and Eric in Amos’s truck, and a woman in a blue car with Florida plates. Tom called the shots perfectly as the circulation began to kick up spray on the road a couple hundred yards in front of us. I got on the radio and warned Amos to slow up as the tornado was forming directly in front of us. Within moments, we were watching a beautiful wedge tornado immediately off to our east. Within a few minutes, we were blasted by the RFD and fought our way into Seymour where we endured hail and water covered roads before jumping east on FM-422. Anti-cyclonic circulation and a newly developing meso to our immediate southwest had us concerned we’d be trapped between tornadoes. Fortunately the storm fizzled and left us with a clear road east where we jumped south to the interstate, headed east, and called the chase as Ft. Worth took the brunt of a tornatic supercell less than 30 miles to our northeast.

We met with Jeff Snyder and others at a mexican resturant in north Ft. Worth where we celebrated our day. As far as we know, other than a brief tornado in Ft. Worth, we got the only tornado of the day on a setup which was suppose to be bonkers with SPC later issuing a HIGH RISK. Storms lined out as the front slammed in quickly and left storm mode linear for the rest of the day. A lot of high hopes gave way to disappointment for many chasers as we pulled the needle from a haystack today!

Heading north on Hwy. 183 as we blasted towards the developing “sucker storm”.

The supercell to our northwest as we continued our northerly trek.

Video still as we were about 10 miles south of Seymour of the developing wall cloud to our due west.

Intense circulation less than a mile to our northwest; Tom began to call out the developing tornado as we were quickly approaching.

Amos and Eric ahead of us as we pull off to the side of the road to let the circulation pass within 200 yards in front of us. The tornado began to kick up spray on the highway by this point.

Tornatic circulation on the highway as tennis-ball sized hail was being spit at us. We turned our vehicles into the wind to avoid losing side windows to the wind blown hail. The tornado can barely be seen touching down on the highway ahead of us.

The violently rotating lowering hadn’t fully condensed to the ground, but ground circulation was evident. The tornado had just crossed the highway as we’re now looking northeast.

The tornado begins to get its act together as we move north to get around the trees.

Cloud getting thicker as we position to its west/southwest.

We stop to enjoy the view of the large wedge less than half a mile to our east/northeast. I get out of the van and shoot about a minute of video and stills.

VIDEO COMING SOON!!!!

The Seymour Wedge Tornado – Video Stills (contrast adjusted)

Photos from the Nikon of the wedge.

Zoomed in on the 18-70mm lens.

Raw video of tornado.

Bill Tabor threw together this graphic depicting the wedge and witnesses to assess its time and position (click image to see full-size).

Street flooding combined with accumulating large hail stones made getting through Seymour an adventure.

Water was almost a foot deep in places and hail as big as tennis-balls covered the roadways.

Later on just north of Mineral Wells, we got cored by the developing squall line and took on some driving winds and quarter-sized hail!

Hail Video

Much later on from the west side of Ft. Worth as a rainbow touches down behind the tornatic storm racing eastward across the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex.

The next day in Amarillo; we stopped here overnight to celebrate our catch! This marks the second time in 6 weeks I’ve enjoyed a victory dinner at the Big Texan!

The 72oz Steak which I was bet to eat if we saw 6 tornadoes (12oz per tornado); maybe next time!

Again, if you wonder why I bought a minivan… mega room!!

Jenn loses her Texas and tornado virginity all in one trip!

Kudos to Eric and Amos for their navigation to get us in position in time to view this tornado! And mega-kudos to Tom who was calling this storm beautifully the entire time! And also big congrats to Jenn who witnessed her very first tornado in a state she had sworn to hate…we may never get her to leave it now! LOL