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April 19th, 2000 - Busted chase to La Salle, IL
Looked like a promising day today... I was in school for my last day before Easter break, when I got home I noticed the Storm Prediction Center had us outlook in a slight risk for severe thunderstorms. As I have said before I was not the greatest forecaster and I actually attribute this busted chase to my hunger of wanting to learn how to forecast severe weather semi-accurately. It's not that I was tired of looking at others forecasts, it was just that I wanted to know how it was done. I was 12 years old, been out on two chases before, and wanted to go on many more. To be able to do this you need to know what you are doing, what you are looking for, how to predict what may happen, and how to analyze what you see. Don't get me wrong, I still needed the SPC and The Weather Prediction for a few years as a helpful guide. I was absolutely terrible at looking at weather models, surface observations, etc. I had no idea what it meant, it was way over my head and I almost gave up. However, severe weather was passion and it is not easy to just throw that away. So I went to every book store, every library, checked out any webpage I can find to help bolster my knowledge and understanding. As luck or perseverance would have it, I became pretty good! Long story short, this chase gave me the hunger to want to know why, not just leech off others hard work.
Regardless of all that, this day was a day where I got home from school, noticed a risk for Western IL, asked my dad if he would take me out since I was now on Spring Break. He said he didn't want to night chase and I agreed that we would head west to about La Salle until sunset and then come home, win or lose. Well I lost. We went west and sat in La Salle for an hour as we watched dying showers to our south drift harmlessly away, and noticed the sun setting. We headed back east and returned home at around 930 P.M.
;424,0895 403,0911 403,0933 424,0921;
NNNN
ZCZC MKCSEL0 ALL 200900;370,0943 403,0920 403,0894 370,0922;
WWUS9 KMKC 200233
MKC WW 200233
ILZ000-MOZ000-200900-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 180
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
933 PM CDT WED APR 19 2000
THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
WESTERN ILLINOIS
CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI
EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 1000 PM
UNTIL 400 AM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF SPRINGFIELD MISSOURI TO
45 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF QUINCY ILLINOIS.
REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 177. WATCH NUMBER 177 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 1000 PM
CDT. CONTINUE...WW 176...WW 178...WW 179...
DISCUSSION...SUPERCELLS ALONG THE KS/MO BORDER SHOULD TRACK ENEWD
ACROSS MO AND EVENTUALLY INTO WRN IL OVERNIGHT. LATEST VWP FROM SGF
INDICATES SR-HELICITY OF 350-400 M2/S2...INDICATING A THREAT FOR A
FEW TORNADOES.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25030.
...VESCIO
Seconds after we arrived back home a tornado watch was issued for the area we had just occupied. As it turned out it was a late night event where storms blew up all over the moderate risk all after dark and even produced tornadoes that hit SE Kansas. Northern IL eventually got severe weather around 11 PM to 1 AM. But to reiterate I saw this as the opportunity to take the bull by the horns and begin my everlasting learning process.
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