I had been liking the triple point play in Southeast, Iowa for better backing of winds, as veered wind shear was a major issue this day. Looking at Mesoanalysis that morning, I was really starting to like Southeast Iowa. Not only that, it was cloudy at the original target of Davenport, Iowa and the Warm Front hadn't even lifted North of I-80 yet. I sent Brennan a text (who was in the vehicle ahead of me) that I think we should head towards Ottumwa. We all mutually agreed and once arriving, adjusted our target a little more towards Washington, Iowa. I was very paranoid about the river crossing, and if storms produced tornadoes I did not want to get screwed over by not being able to cross the river. While driving towards Washington, I noticed skies beginning to clear and moisture surging North. After seeing rainy skies (not good to see on a chase day) and seeing this made me excited After eating at a local diner/gas station combo in Ainsworth a mesoscale discussion was issued for storms initiating along the Cold Front near the Missouri/Iowa border and a Tornado Watch was issued shortly after.
We boggled a little West and decided to let the storms come to us since they were moving into a better environment. While watching, and waiting to see if storms would ever become isolated and have a storm become dominant I was calling a bust. Storms took on a more linear mode for quite some time and it didn't appear that a single storm would take over anytime soon. We continued following the storms East through the town of Washington when a tornado warning was issued. If there was a tornado, it was heavily rain wrapped and likely weak, as the storms were still a linear bowing segment.
Frustration began to take over, and I briefly considered dropping South towards I more isolated storm. But I knew this was the only game in town for tornadoes since it was riding the Triple Point. As we neared Davenport on the SW side and shortly after I texted Brennan to take I-280 North around Davenport because I didn't want to give up and neither did he. I noticed something though, the new Severe Thunderstorm Warning box was issued more to the East instead of to the Northeast. The storm appeared to be taking a right turn. Then, a tornado warning was issued. I briefly got excited, but remembered how the earlier tornado warning went, so I looked at the velocities and it revealed an ominous sign. A very strong couplet was showing up on radar, with a TVS (tornado vortex signature.) I quickly called Brennan and told him we needed to floor it and go. I was afraid we weren't going to catch it, as construction and 55mph speed limit plagued us. Finally the road open and we unloaded and quickly got on 80. There was no other good North options so we had only one shot at seeing this tornado and into the bears cage we went. I pulled ahead of Brennan as again my frustration was taking over with traffic and possibly ending the day as a bust as we blasted North on highway 61 where I received a call from Brennan that he had to get gas and was running low. I checked my as gauge and I was still good so we parted ways and I took off further into the bears cage. I also lost David some where in the mix. I was also getting mad because a strong couplet was still present directly in front of me and I should have been seeing a tornado by now.
I rounded a curve and blasted East on highway 30. I heard someone honk at me, confused I looked over and I had just past my good friends Adam Lucio and Alec Scholten. We both played tag on this road and again, a strong velocity couplet was present, we were in the perfect spot BUT WHERE IS THE TORNADO?!?! We continued East and I saw an ominous lowering just off to my South. Got a few miles up the road and the "its happening" moment settled in. The clouds began to spin, the rain curtains danced, and the inflow jet was at our backs as we both creeped to a stop. Vorticies started dancing in the road just 100 yards in front of us. I continued closer and got within about 75 yards of the multi vortex tornado as it crossed highway 30. The tornado then fully condensed and grew in size before coming fully rain wrapped.
I slowed down quite a bit due to blinding rain and not wanting to rear end a possible panicked motorist parked along side the highway. Power went out in the town of Clinton, and I began to worry about the town as the tornado was taking aim. Thankfully this tornado was not a strong one, but it did demolish a barn and did damage in several other locations, earning it an EF1 rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. I caught back up to Alec and Adam and we jumped for joy in a shell parking lot after seeing the first and what we thought was the only decent tornado of the day, and at close range!
I am still in debt to Alec for this video grab of me driving by the tornado!
Well, our mood quickly changed, as a storm fired off some sort of boundary in Illinois and produced a large track, very photogenic, and violent tornado near Rochelle. So again, I got stuck with a consolation prize just like November 17th, 2013. But, I wasn't too terribly mad because a lot of chasers didn't see anything that day, and this was my first solo tornado! This was my second tornado of the year, and i'm already off to a better start than 2014. So I can't wait to get back out there and hopefully be on THE tornado of the day!
Footage from the day..
Short Clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT-V_OIko-o
Full Clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i_Df2aKhcA
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