November 17, 2013 Tornado Outbreak
Date: November 17, 2013
Partner: My Dad
Location: Granville to Dwight, IL
Tornadoes: 2
Largest Hail: .88" (nickel-sized)
Highest Wind Gust: 50-60 MPH (est.)
Start of the Chase Day:
I woke up at 5 AM at my house after getting 3 hours of sleep (like a true chaser) and began analyzing weather data (EDIT on 9/13/15: "analyzing weather data" is a bit of an exaggeration. It was more like rereading the SPC outlook text multiple times...). I knew that this day could be historic, as well as dangerous. I had never seen or heard of 30% tornado probabilities for our area. However, after the busted 15% tornado probability High Risk on June 12th, I was a tiny bit skeptical in the back of my mind. Could we really have a tornado outbreak of this magnitude HERE?
Setting my doubts aside, I prepared to leave at around 9 AM as storms would initiate around that time. We were in a great position, now storms just had to form.
The Chase:
We left a little bit after 9 AM when a line of storms with imbedded rotation formed over Putnam and LaSalle Counties. I positioned south of them, in Tonica, to see if one storm would become dominant. I knew that if these storms remained linear and didn't become more isolated, that tornado chances looked bleak. I filmed some rapid motion and lightning on the southern edge of this line.
I then saw the first blips on radar of what would become the Washington and Bloomington supercells. Seeing these great structures on radar told me to get ahead of them- WELL ahead of them, as they were moving at about 60 MPH, or a mile a minute. A tornado warning was issued for "a large and extremely dangerous tornado" in Washington.
This sent us on a race to get east to Streator, where this supercell looked to be headed. My Dad and I fought over how to get there. He wanted to core punch, but I declined since we'd drive through unknown sized hail, and possibly drive into a rain wrapped and violent tornado without knowing it. I wanted to continue to outrun ahead of the storm, then drop south of it. Both were dangerous, but mine allowed more time to calculate the risk. I didn't want to take too much of a risk, so we went with mine.
We stopped for gas in Streator, with the tornado about 10-15 minutes away. Despite warnings of a large tornado heading directly for town, the gas station attendants were standing in a large glass faced wall in a weak convenience store building. We warned them of the impending danger, yet they thought nothing of it. WHY were these people not seeking shelter?! The streets were filled with gawkers, completely unaware that a violent tornado was headed in their direction.
Afterwards, we raced to get out of town and out of the path of the monster. The core still blocked it from our view, but we dropped south and east of town to get a better look.
Gradually, the left edge of a wall cloud became visible. Then, a white rope still semi- obscured by rain. This was a rare satellite tornado located near Dana. We drove south another mile and pulled over at an intersection. We then saw a somewhat large stovepipe tornado emerge from the rain. At the time, I thought this was the same tornado, so I must not have put two and two together. I shot some very shaky (go adrenaline) video of the low contrast tornado roping out as quarter sized hail fell on our heads. The final 30 seconds were the most spectacular- multiple vorticies wiggling about like snakes, carving tiny but destructive paths of 120 MPH winds. Then, it spontaneously dissolved.
Me, still experiencing pure ecstacy, ordered us east to try and outrun the rear flank downdraft. This worked for about 10 minutes, then failed miserably as the storm:
a) accelerated to near 70 MPH, and b) became high precipitation in nature. This was probably the scariest part of the chase, as 60 MPH winds, half-inch hail, and possibly a rain-wrapped tornado threatened. In fact, I believe amidst the chaos I witnessed a few rotating columns of rain about 100 yards to our north. These may have gustnadoes, but the thought didn't settle me any.
We got to the point, near Dwight, that we realized we wouldn't ever catch back up. I honestly didn't know why I thought we could catch up in the first place. So, we drove back to Streator for lunch (it was only noon!) and witnessed a weak squall line, producing 30-40 MPH winds, accompanying the frontal passage.
Residents told us horror stories of raining debris and baseball sized hail just south of town. So, after we finished eating, we decided to see for ourselves. We got about 1/4 mile south of town, and began to see plywood and sheet metal littering corn fields. Lots of debris was also on the roads, so we had to remove them. This proved difficult since winds were gusting to 60 MPH post-front. Later, near Rutland, we saw something heartbreaking- a quilt laying in someone's driveway, and a short distance away, a mattress. It was horrible seeing objects such as these, carried tens of miles from where a family's life was just torn to pieces. We finally made our way home and arrived back at about 2:30 PM.
Regarding the satellite tornado, I realized there was one a few weeks ago while re-analyzing video. It's a skinny tornado with a condensation funnel all the way to the ground. As I turned the camera angle, I could see the dark outline of a large rain-wrapped tornado, the main one, off to our WSW. After that, I feel VERY accomplished having witnessed such a rare event.
Chase highlights video:
