This is one of the best short chases that any of us have been on. I'm a little late in posting this and I will not get very detailed as to the specifics of day. In the future I will post a chase log within a few days after an event. Future posts will be a little more detailed.
Drake and I woke up early to check out the latest SPC Day 1 outlook and it seemed just like every other severe risk day in the Ohio Valley this year. Just your very average slight risk for severe thunderstorms and a 2% tornado risk. At 9:00 am we went ahead and made the decision to go ahead and go. It's close to home and what else are you going to do on a Saturday in June.. I gave Mike Hall a call and see if he want to go along. I convinced him and he agreed to go instead of the photo shoot at a car show. It ended up being a wise choice.
Our initial target was southern, IL. Great chase area, good and flat with good roads. We know that area well and have chased there many times. But at around 12:00 pm we changed our minds and headed south. The SPC Mesoscale Analysis page was showing that the best CAPE and shear was going to rotate into the MO bootheel area. New target was Fulton county, KY to wait it out along the Mississippi River.
Once there we could see tops of thunderstorms as the were still in MO. It was a hot June day, Drake was bored out of his mind. He was sure that it was going to be a bust day and we weren't going to see anything. Picture to the left shows him checking the radar and giving me his updates. At the time there were tornadoes on going in our first target area. He was pretty sore about that. The day wasn't over yet as a cell split was underway and now we had a loaner all by itself taking on supercell structure. It was time to move south to get out in front.
We took a good road into Mayfield, KY and then went on a direct route to the south and Union City, TN. Our storm was already tornado warned and there were reports coming in of tornado damage around New Madrid, KY and the Reelfoot area of Lake county TN. Just north of Union City there is a good west road to get us right into the inflow notch. Some say it's risky to be there but we had good routes north and south if we needed to get out of there in a hurry. Even though we lost Internet connection in the truck we still had a good view and good data on the iPhone. Mike snapped this picture to the left on our way into the notch.
Once there the view was nothing short of mesmerizing. Incredible blue precipitation core, inflow and structure. Drake's first trip inside the notch is something that I'll never forget nor will he. I bet it was a little overwhelming for him at first. We could tell it in his voice but he soon settled down and starting shooting video. Once the inflow area cleared the tree line is when we could make out a rain wrapped tornado briefly show itself wrapped in rain to our south west. How awesome is it to be able to chase with your son? It's about as good as it gets! This picture to the right by Mike just about sums it all up. Just an incredible view looking into the storm.
The day was hardly over and the chase continued for another 5 hours across western TN. We encountered multiple wall clouds and cell mergers while trying to stay out ahead. The storm structure on this day was some that is not normally seen east of the Mississippi River. I think all of us will savor this day, it's a very rare opportunity.
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