pulse convection looming in the horizon...
On Friday, I ventured out during the early afternoon to "chase" a few thunderstorms that were anticipated to develop in the local-area near Peoria, IL. I had the day-off from work so I didn't have too much planned so I decided this would also be another day for some photography. Thursday, I actually was able to get out once again to shoot some photos that I'll be posting at a later date in a rather large (Summer: 2012) post. Stay tuned for that one! Anyhow, around midday I noticed a nice convergent boundary along the Illinois River on visible satellite imagery which would serve the focus for isolated pulse thunderstorm development throughout the day. The area along and south of this convergent boundary was characterized by nearly 2,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear at an anemic 10-20kts, and a moist boundary-layer with dew points near 70°F. With little of a cap in place to suppress convective development I hit the road shortly after noon at this point already seeing agitated cumulus bubbling up in the eastern horizon. I decided since the risk of severe weather was rather lull that I would use this opportunity to photograph the developing convection at a local wind farm near Camp Grove, IL along the Stark County and Marshall County-border. I watched convection quickly develop to my south for most of the early afternoon and then as anticipated an outflow boundary ignited at my location from the storms to my south. This storm packed some heavy downpours and some vivid lightning. I sat for a good half hour allowing this thunderstorm to give me a nice car wash at this wind farm. Throughout the afternoon I was able to catch a few good photo-ops along the rural Illinois drought-stricken landscape. I've added photos from today's "chase" below:
of this wind farm...
Agitated cumulus (Cu) around midday
bubbling to the south!
Convective initiation beginning...
The drought has taken its toll here...
Updraft along the July Illinois landscape!
Convection approaching the wind farm...
Dark skies looming...
Another impressive portrait-shot!
Convection now overhead at this point...
Another favorite...
I'm about to get a car wash from Mother Nature!
Bring on the rain!
The rain dance worked as I picked up 1.00" inch
of rain within around 40 minutes shortly
after taking this photo...
after taking this photo...
That concludes this post. I'll be posting again some of my best summer photos I've shot over the last few months within the next month. Hopefully, we'll get some more chances for rain as we are now in a severe drought in central Illinois. It has been a dry and hot summer to say the least! Stay tuned for more updates...
