Storm Chase 3-8-09 (this may take a few moments to load....there are lots of pictures)

Please note that we are trained professionals and storm chasing should not be done by just anyone. If a storm is nearing please take the appropriate measures of taking shelter in a sturdy structure away from all windows in the central most part of the building. Do not attempt to recreate any of the actions taken by the chasers.

A tornado outbreak occurred on March 8th of this week. Long-lived, low topped supercells moved from southwest to northeast from Missouri to Ohio during the span of the day.

Chase Route:



Our target area was Seymour in southeast Indiana. Early afternoon clearing had allowed temperatures into the low 70s. A 850mb jet had developed from the south with the passing of a warm front earlier allowing the upper atmosphere to become more moist while surface dewpoints were already in the mid to upper 50s. There was a large amount of directional shear from 0-3km that would support tornadoes and lifted index levels were projected by RUC to drop to near or below -4. CAPE values were at 500-1000j/kg with scattered areas of 1500j/kg which is decent for a winter set up. All these factors were reasons why the Storm Prediction Center had issued a moderate severe risk for much southern Indiana, Illinois and northern Missouri.

We got a late start leaving Athens around 12:45pm and booked it west. A thick stratocumulus deck had built in with the upper level moisture pushing north that was dropping sprinkles on us occasionally on the way out. This deck would not permit any surface heating over Ohio and would kill any storm that tried to move into it from the west. When leaving, there were already three distinct supercells in northern MO and southern IL that were moving east towards our target area.



We stopped just east of 275 on 32 to decide which storm we were going to go after. The northern storm took a far left in the last hour and was going to move over and just south of Indianapolis, far out of our reach within the next two hours. The southern storm was going to be going through the hills along the Ohio River and Kentucky area that would prohibit a good view of it. Out of the three cells only one was tornado warned and had a history of producing tornadoes. This made the decision all the easier and we picked the middle storm as it would be going over relatively flat land and had the best chance to produce.

The real decision was if we wanted to approach it from the north or south. We knew that it may take a left turn north because of the boundary the storms were riding. It was revolving counter clockwise over the low in northern Illinois. This had occured with the northern storm and the middle one was next, it was just a matter of when it would. Temporaily the storm weakened, meaning it was most likely cycling, and could very well produce more rotation with a new cell to the south of its current trajectory. So we took the risky move to duck south on 275 around Cincinnatti and jump onto route 50 and go west into Indiana sticking to our target area.

After getting off on US50 the radar we were using got disruptive. After losing signal a few times we finally got a nowcaster, Travis Swiger, who we can thank for putting us in the right position of the storm. Twenty minutes east of Versailles, IN we saw the sun for the first time that day illuminating a strong updraft that showed just how unstable the atmosphere really was.



Storm structure visibility became much better and we were able to pick out the storm we were focused on just to our north. It was extremely outflow dominant and was putting down a large amount of rain. As expected it had cycled and the new strong cell had developed just to its south and our west. We stopped on SR421 just northwest of Versailles as the new cell became tornado warned and waited for it to come to us.

When the cell came into sight it appeared that it was taking the shape of a hook echo with a boundary weak echo region to our direct west:



After about 10 minutes it became obvious that it was just the downdraft of the storm approaching us.
Downdraft approaching:



We dropped southwest 2 miles to avoid the core and get a better look at the inflow area of the storm. Here is the view we had of the storm as we were ducking south:



Finally after another five minutes the inflow region at the bottom of the updraft became very visible just to the southeast. There wasn't any rotation at the moment that we could see so we let it go right over us:



When it got directly above us it began to finally rotate. There wasn't any lowering of any kind but there was definite rotation that began to take on better shape as it drifted off to the northeast going past the treeline and out of view. Rotation:



Thats when we realized that the storms were moving really, really fast. I would say that they were moving over 60+mph. We would not of been able to keep up with it because of its speed and the terrible road network in the Versailles area. We made a attempt to dive south and intercept another cell that was severe warned but ended up at a dead end that wasn't supposed to be there. With frustration we returned up north and punched the core of the tornado warned storm. It was quick, but it rained hard, probably a half inch came down in ten minutes and then it was done. There was really no lightning to speak of which is normal for this time of year but surprising because of the amount of instability. We experienced some gusts of around 40mph but nothing severe. Right before punching the core we were treated to a nice shelf cloud as the next weak cell moved in:



We decided to end the chase and stopped to grab some food and check the storms. On seeing the report of a tornado one mile north of Milan, IN we decided to go northeast and do a storm survey of the damage. This was from the same storm we had been on and it must of put a tornado down just six minutes later. We found the damage actually many more miles north of Milan. It appeared that the tornado had touched down just northeast of a barn in a cornfield. It was strong enough to rip the wall out of it that was facing the northeast. It then picked up right away and the funnel crossed a cornfield. Soon after it dropped down on the opposite side of the cornfield for just a few feet, crossed the road and hit a house and the unattached garage. It then picked up in a cornfield behind the residents property. It knocked the house about ten inches off its foundation, blew out a porch post, and dislodged a back room addition to the house even more off the foundation. The garage took substantial damage, it had both its doors blown out and had half its roof blown off. The roof was deposited about 50 yards behind the garage in the cornfield. Some debris was even thrown onto the tops of the trees across the field. Cornstalks and mud were splattered on all the buildings, stuck in crevices and under awnings of the house.

Here is the damage in relation to the area we experienced the storm from (Source : Google Maps):



And here is a close up of the damaged area (Source : Google Maps)



Barn:



Field it crossed, barn in background:



Front of the house:



From this angle you can see the shifted house better:



Here is the back room of the house:



This is a shot of the east/southeast side of the house. Look at all the corn stalks that piled up here and also got wedged in the downspout:



The worst hit building was the garage:





You can see the roof in the right side of the picture and get an idea how far it was thrown:



Roof:



Here is the debris that made it up into the trees in the woods on the other side of the field:



On the drive home we followed the storms east. We were treated to nice cumulonimbus and some lightning aided with the moon and setting sun.











Christopher Redmond
cr898005@ohio.edu

Nick Brammer
nb383305@ohio.edu