Monday, April 13th, 1998, was the day of interest. I was on Spring Break since the 10th and was going crazy in anticipation to get the chance to see Mother Nature and her glory. My dad, my grandfather, and I all set out down I 57 around 9 AM for Central IL. There was early morning convection already going on in Central IL (as I would find out the more I studied severe weather that this was a normal occurrence) and little to no lightning with it. We darted down I 57 to US 24 and headed west and hung out at the antique mall as my dad and grandpa both collected antiques. All we had was map and weather radio and by 1 P.M. the alarm was going off for a tornado watch. The counties of the watch contained all the areas South and West of us. We hopped on I 39 and then South on I 55 until we hit US 136. As we headed west, the sky started getting dark out west. A severe thunderstorm warning went out for Fulton, Schuyler, Cass, and Mason counties we were currently on the border of Mason and Logan counties. As we passed through San Jose, IL, the sky continued to grow darker and menacing. I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't getting nervous. Lightning started spouting out on the western horizon. At the time I had no idea I was looking at a huge gust front stretching from N to S along the western horizon. All I DID know was that the sky was dark and full of lightning. As we approached Havana, the gust front over took us and I was treated to a wonderful whales mouth just W of Havana. By this time I guess the storm was gusting out as the gust front hit and there was no precipitation.
The video was basically the excitement of our chase. Shelf cloud with whales mouth and core behind it, then we got cored near Chandlersville, IL, and finally played tried playing catch up to the storm.Overall it was a great experience. I learned a bit about structure, the benefits and struggles of chasing for the first time, and the triumph of intercepting a decent storm when you don't have the technology readily available to you.
Pictures:
Video:
(C) Danny Neal - www.northernilstormchaser.com & www.convectiveaddiction.com
2010 Stats: 30 tornadoes, 2.25 inch hail, 100 mph winds, 15,300 miles in 18 chases
Contact info: DNeal14@msn.com - 773-543-8280 - NrnILStormChaser on AIM
April 13th, 1998 - Havana, IL
