boundary northeast of Kewanee, IL
Thursday, made up for some rather "crapvection" the previous night that I was hoping would provide a nice lightning display across west-central Illinois. Mother Nature decided to not cooperate Wednesday night however so I ended up getting a good night's rest as I had hopes of chasing some convection Thursday afternoon in the local-area. During the early afternoon, I was monitoring an area for isolated severe convection across west-central Illinois in Kewanee, IL. It appeared a weak cold front would ignite a few thunderstorms during the late-afternoon in advance of a shortwave trough. This favored-area near Kewanee, IL was characterized by nearly 2,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear at 30kts, and a moist boundary-layer with dew points around 70°F. Most of the day, I monitored the situation knowing I'd be heading to Peoria, IL later in the evening anyway. I watched storms develop near the Mississippi River. These storms pushed out a nice outflow boundary to their southeast. I was able to watch towers go up along this boundary for nearly a hour. I took some time-lapse video at this point hoping to capture convective initiation. Around 4:00pm, I decided to head north to intercept the first thunderstorm that was a few miles to the north of my parent's backyard. I took a few shots of the outflow boundary showing off the buoyant environment. I was actually very pleased with the visually pleasing convection. After watching the rumbling convection I headed back south to keep up with the outflow boundary that would continue to ignite a few more thunderstorms. I kept up with these storms driving through rural-Stark County, IL as I progressed back to Peoria, IL. It was a route I'm quite familiar with to say the least! I stopped off-and-on near Wyoming, IL along the drive to snap a few photos of the storms that featured many rainbows and some rewarding stormy skies. Unfortunately, we didn't get much in terms of drought relief, but these storms were a nice reward after a pretty lame severe weather year across this area and most of the U.S. Frankly, Canada has stole all our tornadoes as of late if you were wondering! Maybe, it's time to get a passport for next year I think. Anyhow, after snapping a few photos in Peoria, IL during the late-evening I called it a night around 8:30pm. I've added photos and some time-lapse video from yesterday's stroll through rural-Stark County, IL below:
Outflow boundary showing off the
warm and unstable air mass...
Looking north out of the backyard at this robust convection!
(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)
Upward vertical motion I'd say!
Trying to become explosive...
The chase is on northeast of Kewanee, IL...
Bureau-Stark County, IL border!
Wide-angle view as this country road (E 2900th St.)
heads right into the storm...
heads right into the storm...
A rather beautiful July Illinois stormy landscape...
I'm about to feel the outflow boundary soon enough...
This thunderstorm pushes out a nice
downdraft a few miles to my north!
Illinois corn and overhead convection providing
another good landscape-shot...
Whale's mouth with an eerie black sky overhead...
The sun was my friend on this evening
leading to some great shots!
A closer view...crazy to think how you could be a few
miles southeast (right) in the heat and a few miles north (left)
in a downpour...
A welcome sight for some drought relief, but I'm afraid
for Illinois farmers it's too little too late...
A nice picturesque thunderstorm to my north on
A nice downdraft filling up the northern horizon!
New thunderstorms developing to my northwest...
Closer-view of this developing convection
Still following the outflow boundary...
Hail shaft and rainbow!
More picturesque convection to my east...
Convection to my north with a whale's mouth
feature moving overhead...
I ride out the storm and right on cue I set up waiting
for a rainbow to appear and sure enough this one does
at the apartment complex!
I temporary move to another spot to capture
this double rainbow along the drought-stricken landscape!
A beautiful double rainbow!
Another view...
Looking east at the rainbow once again with
geese trying to find the pot-of-gold (Click to enlarge)...
geese trying to find the pot-of-gold (Click to enlarge)...
Another stellar view in the eastern horizon!
A spectacular wide-angle shot!
My favorite of the departing convection...
It's now time for some shots at sunset...
Beautiful convection!
(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)
More good stuff! (looking southeast)
My favorite of the bunch at sunset!
I've added a YouTube time-lapse of the bubbling convection
during the mid-afternoon (above)
I've added a YouTube time-lapse of the bubbling convection
during the mid-afternoon (above)
It was another successful evening for photography for myself. I'm still working on my Summer: 2012 post that will have a stockpile of photos I've shot this summer. I'm planning to have that post finished over the next month. More posts to come. Stay tuned.
