east of Kewanee, IL on this evening...
Tuesday, I didn't plan to even go out and observe some developing convection across north-central Illinois since the setup was rather marginal to say the least with around 1,000J/kg of CAPE present, 0-6km shear around 30kts, and a relatively dry boundary-layer with dew points barely reaching 50°F. As typical though, I talked myself into heading out after I got off work after 6:00PM to take in some convection approaching from the northwest. This convection actually was severe-warned however near the Mississippi River due to spotty damaging wind reports. I was actually semi-impressed with some of the structure looking to the northwest around sunset. I headed out on the north-side of Peoria, IL to capture the view and saw a developing severe thunderstorm near my hometown of Kewanee, IL nearly 40 miles away. I called the folks to get a first-hand account of the conditions in that area. Other than a few downpours that was about it, but I was informed it left a nice picturesque sky in its wake. Anyhow, I shot a few photos enjoying the view in the northwest horizon and shot some time-lapse video of the stout updraft this severe thunderstorm had as it progressed through northern Stark County, IL. I've added a few photos from yesterday evening and some time-lapse video below:
A beautiful updraft here surging vertically
into the atmosphere near sunset...
A pretty awesome anvil stretching
across the northern horizon!
Portrait-shot of the updraft!
This one I shot right at dusk before this convection
quickly fell apart as darkness fell...
One last shot of the anvil as I call it an evening...
I've added a YouTube time-lapse (above)
That's all for now. I'm sure I'll be posting more in the coming weeks as their are signs that we may be entering a more active severe weather pattern depending on which numerical weather model you believe. We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks, but hopefully Mother Nature will keep me fairly busy as we inch closer to June...
