A funnel cloud forms as a thunderstorm briefly latches onto a warm front east of Princeville, IL
On May 5th, I took a quick "gentleman's chase" into northern Peoria County, IL and southern Stark County, IL to intercept some thunderstorms intensifying along a warm front north of my apartment. During the early afternoon, cumulus could be seen "bubbling" in the northern horizon. By mid-afternoon, I headed north on IL Rt. 91 through Dunlap, IL and found a good spot to watch and observe an "interesting" storm that was developing northeast of Princeville, IL. I ended up viewing a nice wall cloud on this thunderstorm at this time. This area along the warm front featured 2,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear at 30kts, and a moist boundary-layer with dew points near 65°F. While observing the wall cloud this thunderstorm also briefly dropped a nice funnel cloud to my north that I captured before dissipating. Once the storm weakened I headed back home to Peoria, IL during the evening. I've added a couple photos from the day below:
Wall cloud to my northeast!
Wide-angle shot of the storm's structure from the backside including the brief funnel cloud!
That wraps up this chase day. This past spring I took I guess what could be called a "storm chasing
hiatus" choosing only to chase local over the last two months. With that being said, it sure was nice to observe Mother Nature and view some storms again to say the least. I'll update once again with more posts that I'm currently working on in the coming days. Stay tuned.
