Convection becoming outflow dominate at this local wind farm outside Galva, IL
On May 8th, I chased a few sub-severe thunderstorms locally as they approached the town of Galva, IL in west-central Illinois. This area featured 1,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear at 30kts, and a moist boundary-layer with dew points near 60°F. There was a greater risk of severe weather and tornadoes in northern Iowa, but I decided not to make the trip to that area on this chase day. I didn't expect much out of this particular evening locally, but I was hoping for a few decent shots as some storms would develop and later collapse on themselves pushing out cool outflow. By evening, I set up on the west-side of Galva, IL at a local wind farm to take in the convection. As expected these storms quickly gusted out, but provided me with a nice dust storm thanks to recently tilled farm fields and cool outflow. I also was able to catch a couple gustnadoes as well in this area. Not bad for a quick drive. I've added a few photos from this brief chase below:
A grungy looking shelf cloud with rising scud moving in from the west!
Closer-view of the shelf cloud a few miles away...
Look close! One of several gustnadoes along the cool outflow from this storm!
Dust seemed to be getting kicked up everywhere in this area...
My best shot of a gustnado from this outflow dominate convection!
"Dust storm"
This was a rather rewarding drive to catch some convection within a hour from home. I'm sure I'll find myself photographing storms at local wind farms in the future. It's always fun to add something of interest into the foreground with a storm in the background. I also chased on May 11th and will have a recap of that chase in a later post as well.
