The day started with low-expectations as today's setup for severe weather was not what you'd jump up and down for. However, with that being said a SLGT risk was outlooked by the SPC. Even with knowing that the tornado potential was rather null for the day with that lack of 0-6km shear I decided to head out to find some decent photo opportunities. My target from the night before and today was Dekalb, IL. If your a NIU student reading this your probably wondering why...because severe weather seems to be a rarity in that area or at least when I attend school there. It just seems instability is always a problem or storms tend to go way south or way north of town. Oh well, enough venting on Dekalb's lack of convection or "subsistence dome". Anyway back to the chase, I was wondering will this trend continue. Around 1pm I began to headed east on I-80 and jumped on Exit 79B Rockford. Some convection began to increase in intensity around Clinton, IL becoming severe-warned. I preceded to drive north on I-39 and got off at the Rochelle/Dekalb exit. This severe thunderstorm kept looking a tad better on radar so I headed east on US38 then made a quick decision to "lay back" and head north of Creston, IL targeting the tail-end cell. I then preceded to get a better and better view of the storm and then headed east to get into a good spot on US64. Parked for a good 20 minutes and watched the storm traverse across Northern Illinois tall-grass prairies and farm fields.
New slogan: "Turn around...Don't get hailed on"
New storms fired immediately to the east of this storm, but I didn't partake on those since this had the best chance to produce being the tail-end of the line and all. Actually, at one point it had some good structure and this surprised me with the upper-level wind setup today.
After that appendage passed I got cored a tad with some big raindrops. I preceded to then get back east to keep up and got back out of the rain to find a decent structure at the rear flank of the storm that went through Dekalb, IL. After that storm headed east toward the "windy city" I preceded to start the 2-hour drive home. Overall, today was what I expected with this setup...the only confirmed tornado was actually along the cold front in Iowa...I don't think I missed much there after observing that storm on radar on the drive home. Well that's all for now...time to relax and enjoy the holiday weekend.
