along this fence outside Kewanee, IL
Over the last week, I've been getting ready for spring and taking a few photos here and there. I've been also hard at work testing new equipment and partaking in the usual vehicle maintenance that's to be done before spring begins. Right now, I still plan to head out and chase in April occasionally dependent on the weather pattern of course, but I'll be scheduling a vacation sometime in May/June yet again. Hopefully, this year will be far more active than 2012 ended up being. I missed the big tornado day last year in April as I had to work and really regretted not being out there that day. One of the many things I have on my mind for this upcoming spring is how the on-going drought will have an effect on severe weather across the Great Plains. I'm sure it will have some impact to a certain degree, but over the last few weeks there has been some improvement in terms of rainfall and snowfall across the Great Plains. There's still a long way to go though seen here. Locally, we have just about erased our drought from this past summer across most of Illinois. It could be an interesting spring in the Midwest with maybe even some flooding concerns if we continue this rather wet weather pattern. Time will tell on that. Anyhow, I've added a few photos I shot over the last week of the disappearing snow across the local area below:
angle during the evening!
(Canon 10-22mm lens)
with this statue in the snow!
illusion of spring convection and Cumulonimbus...
That's all for now. Spring is on the horizon and it's just a matter of time before we see our first 70°F day and severe convection. Heck, I even saw a Robin this past weekend so that should tell you that spring is right around the corner regardless of the what the long-term weather models may say.
