Thursday, March 11, 2010 - 12:33PM CST   
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March 10 chase photos and video
HD CHASE VIDEO: 3/10 storms in SW Missouri
While I crossed briefly into Kansas and Oklahoma yesterday, I spent the majority of my time in southwest Missouri. I didn't see much, a disappointment considering the potential this system had up until the morning of. Notwithstanding, it was great to get out into the warm air and be around storms again for the first time since the winter season began.
I planned for an initial morning target of Joplin, expecting to move west or southwest from there. The play of the day was supposed to have been the surface low that was developing and moving up from southwest Oklahoma, but early storms and rain prevented destabilization near the low. Stronger instability was developing to the east in Missouri, but low-level wind fields there were less favorable for tornadoes. Since the low play was looking shot and was another 2 hours or so west of Joplin, I chose the instability - and ended up following storms home the rest of the evening.
After struggling for most of the afternoon, storms finally begain intensifying after around 5PM. This is one storm near Carthage, just southeast of Joplin, MO. Despite being tornado-warned and looking ominous, it was blasting outflow and not visibly rotating. Chasers who were inside of this experienced a deluge of hail that covered the roads.
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Panorama:
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Lightning north of Mount Vernon, MO:
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I stayed with the storms all the way back home on I-44, stopping a few times to attempt lightning photography. For the most part, there was too much rain to set up cameras. When I arrived back in St. Louis, I set up at the television towers near Afton for upward lightning. One flash to one of the towers occured before I got parked and set up, but non occured afterward. I arrived back home just after 2AM.
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 | nice shots did you come as far south as Neosho
- Posted by Danny Gordon from Granby MO |  |  | |
Thanks Danny, I was in Neosho for a few minutes yesterday. I came in from Wyandotte, OK and then went north on 71.
- Posted by Dan R. from New Baden, IL | | | |
Great shots Dan!
- Posted by Dann Cianca from Centennial (Greenwood Park), Colorado | | | |
Thanks Dann!
- Posted by Dan R. from New Baden, IL | | | |
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 5:37AM CDT
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Day 1: Southwest Missouri/southeast Kansas
Update 2:05AM CDT Thursday: Home after 26 hours awake and 21 on the road. Possibly a chase tomorrow if I feel rested. Photos and video to come.
Update 5:37AM CDT Wednesday: Departing New Baden/STL and heading west on I-44 in the next few minutes. Preliminary target is Joplin, MO - will likely move west into KS or southwest into OK from there as data dictates. A little concerned from IR sat loop and latest RUC that the low may be tracking further south than expected.
Posted 12:08AM CDT Wednesday: I never imagined I'd be starting my 2010 Plains tornado season blog this early, but when a good opportunity arises, I have to take it! A potent tornado setup is shown by models taking place in the tri-state region of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday afternoon. A combination of instability, moisture, upper support and a surface low will combine to create favorable conditions for supercells from mid-afternoon Wednesday into the overnight hours. The potential exists for several strong tornadoes if one or two supercells can remain isolated through the evening and after dark. As the night progresses, a strong squall line should develop and head northeast toward the St. Louis area.
Since this event falls well within my new extended home chase area, it's an easy decision to jump on it. I plan to leave at dawn with an arrival in my 'staging area' target of Joplin, MO by noon. This chase has the potential to lead me eastward through the night, with hopefully not much of a drive needed to get home after all is said and done. This is definitely a chase opportunity made possible by living in St. Louis - not one I'd be likely to try from WV. I will update this blog when I can, but I will put a greater priority on channeling updates through the Facebook and Twitter feeds.
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| Dan, maybe we will run into you this afternoon. My chase partner and I are about to head towards the eastern half of AR...going through the morning data as we speak...
- Posted by Clarence from Nashville | | | |
Monday, March 8, 2010 - 8:20PM CST
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2010 season - here we go
UPDATES: stormhighway.com Facebook Page (more on this below)
An unexpectedly more active pattern than anticipated is upon us. Wednesday and Thursday are looking like not only thunderstorm days, but the first 'real' chase days of the season for the Midwest. Models show that instability, moisture, good upper support and a surface low pressure in the vicinity may be present, all ambient ingredients for possible severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The details are yet to be resolved, but here are just a few quick NAM model images:
Dewpoints shown in the 50s up to St. Louis:
NAM dewpoints for Thursday
Instability:
NAM CAPE for Thursday
Upper support:
NAM 500mb winds for Thursday
Surface low and backed winds:
NAM surface for Thursday
Wednesday looks like a potential event to the west and south of here, which could also lead to a chase day. The best parameters may be in eastern Oklahoma, which is a little too far to drive considering an event may take place here at home the next day. Stay tuned!
Facebook Page
UPDATES: stormhighway.com Facebook Page
I've had a Facebook page set up for this site for some time now, and plan to start using it with higher frequency this season. If you have a Facebook account, you can join this page without actually having to be on my private friend list. The idea behind this is to keep weather-related updates in their own area, so that (1) non-Facebook friends can interact and (2) I don't impose too much weather content on my private Facebook page for non-chaser friends who may not care to read it.
I also set up the Facebook page to automatically simul-post to my Twitter account, in case you're a more frequent user of that service.
| hi you are my biggest storm fan
- Posted by kevin from siouxlookout .ON | | | |
Sunday, March 7, 2010 - 5:55PM CST
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First convection of 2010
With surface temps topping 66°F, some weak low-topped convection passed over New Baden this afternoon, ushering in the first chase of the year. Not much of an event, but great to get out and breathe in the fresh air after a long winter. I followed the last cell in the cluster to Albers, about 6 miles east - but didn't pursue any farther due to their rapid eastward movement (at least 65mph). No lightning with these cells, but occasional pea-sized hail mixed in with the rain. A faint rainbow appeared as the sun broke through to the west, and a classic Midwest/Plains golden sunset occupied the drive back.
Looking west from New Baden:
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Some pea-sized hail mixed in here:
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Rainbow and blackbirds (still everywhere):
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Wide view looking east at Albers:
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Driving west toward home on Highway 161:
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Sunday, March 7, 2010 - 2:59AM CST
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More spring hope; upcoming season notes
As temps surpass 60°F for the first time since November and some weak thunderstorms pass by about an hour to my north this afternoon, I've got the living room window open reading the 12z models (the 'morning' outputs) - which paint an increasingly nicer scenario for the coming week. While a large eastern trough is taking shape for later next week, it is associated with a southern stream jet - with the northern stream way up in Canada, keeping the Arctic air confined far to the north of the US. This means that despite another bout of northwest flow over the central US, there is no truly cold air close enough for this system to pull down, and therefore no threat of winter weather for the foreseeable future. The sun angle is also our friend here, working harder and harder to keep temperatures from the freezing point despite any cold upper pattern.
GFS 500mb pattern for Saturday
The moisture and warmth continue to move northward. The latest temps forecast by both the NAM and GFS show the warmup, with several small chances for convection each day. Right now, Wednesday seems to hold the best potential for thunderstorms in the St. Louis area, with some instability showing up to the west in the afternoon.
NAM temperatures for Wednesday
NAM CAPE for Wednesday
For chasing, this pattern isn't anything to get excited about - but it's a sign that we truly are in the 'meteorological spring' season of change.
Upcoming season notes
- We're only a little over 3 weeks away from April 1, the more 'official' start of tornado season when I start gearing up for the annual journeys out to the Plains. Sometime around that point I'll bring back the
 'chase season' sub-blog for 2010. This season will probably feature at least one or two multi-day expeditions made more feasable by the shorter drive.
- As with most pre-seasons, there are several chase-related work items I need to perform on my truck - and if all goes as planned, this will take place at the Raleigh house sometime in the next few weeks. The house is going on the market soon, and as such this will be the last 'Raleigh clean-out and vehicle reconfiguration' at that location. The main items for Raleigh include:
- Hardwiring in the old power console. I still have the 7500-watt inverter rig I built for my Freestyle, but I hadn't installed it in the Ranger yet due to me not wanting to drill holes and do permament mods to my new truck. Well, after a year, the 'new vehicle' complex has faded in favor of necessity. My small inverters aren't handling the laptop very well, and the cigarette plug contacts are beginning to have issues. The idea is to attach hooks to the old rig and simply hang it on the panel under the rear window - at least that's the plan. Then, I'm running heavy guage wire up to the fuse panel for a dedicated/fuse-protected power connection, freeing up the cigarette plugs and getting all of the wires back behind the seats. The setup will essentially be the same as I had back in my Freestyle.
- Perma-mounting the Jotto desk. I currently have the Jotto attached to the seats using steel cables and turnbuckles, just like a guyed radio tower. This avoided having to drill holes in the floor, but it's not very stable. The cables stretch when the laptop load is attached, and after a long day of use, it becomes wobbly.
- Redesigning the dashcam mount. My present mount supported the camera only by the tripod screw. A few months ago, after a year of constant use, the vibrations proved too much and the tripod screw broke away from the camera base. Now it is held in place with velcro adhesive, which is not holding well. The plan is to add a rigid frame to the mount to hold the camera at the top and at the bottom.
- Weather instruments. I'm undecided about whether I want to install a couple of my OS wireless instruments and its display panel. I'd like to at least have temp/humidity sensors. This is a lower-priority task that I'll only complete if I have the extra time.
Thursday, March 4, 2010 - 3:40PM CST
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Blackbird insanity: Millions of birds in Mascoutah, IL
HD VIDEO 1: March 4 - Millions of blackbirds (at sunrise)
HD VIDEO 2: March 3 - Millions of blackbirds (at sunset)
This is a consolidation of blog posts on the Blackbird flock in southwestern Illinois near St. Louis - photo galleries are below
On Tuesday, March 2nd, I decided to try out a grocery store I hadn't yet been to in the town of Mascoutah, which is about 6 miles southwest of New Baden. (Mascoutah is in St. Clair County, about 20 miles east of downtown St. Louis.) The 'county road grid' here is paved and well-maintained, in this case making those roads a faster route than taking the Interstate. On the way past the bare cornfields, I encountered a huge flock of several thousand blackbirds, more numerous than anything else I'd seen in nature before. I spent the next 45 minutes following and shooting photos of this mass of birds. I was impressed enough with it that I decided to return the next day for more photos.
On the evening of Wednesday the 3rd, I found a similar-sized flock of birds and followed them as they flew west. The prairies of Illinois consist of flat, open farmland that is mostly devoid of trees until you encounter a river, stream or lake. In this case, Silver Creek, which runs north-south just west of Mascoutah, is one of the more wooded spots in the area. When I reached Silver Creek, I ran into 'blackbird armageddon'. This made what I'd seen the day before seem like nothing. Literally millions of birds were flying southward along the creek in a single, unbroken mass about a quarter mile wide, flowing like a river in the sky. Photos didn't do this justice, so I shot several minutes of video (video link #2 above). The 'river of birds' was in progress when I got to the creek, and flowed continuously for at least 10 minutes afterward.
I found some sources online that said that the birds would leave their roost at sunrise in an even more abrupt mass than the craze at sunset, so I returned to Silver Creek at around 5:45AM CST on the morning of the 4th to wait for the show. The sources I'd read were exactly right - the rush of birds was even more intense than the evening before. The video of this (video link #1 above) tells the story more than anything. The video starts at Silver Creek near Mascoutah just before sunrise, and follows the flock as it moves northeastward into the prairies toward New Baden. As the stream of birds passed over, many would land in the trees until the limbs were filled to capacity. Then, thousands of these birds would take off simultaneously with a loud roaring sound that you would never expect small birds to be able to make.
In all, this was an amazing experience that will rank high on the list of the things I've seen in nature.
Photo Gallery
From March 3rd and 4th (click thumbnails to enlarge):
  
  
This was the first flock I saw on Tuesday the 2nd, flying westward between New Baden and Mascoutah. At the time, I thought that even this size of a flock was impressive (click thumbnails to enlarge).
  
  
  
  
  
| You should collect guano and sell it!
- Posted by Dann Cianca from Centennial (Greenwood Park), Colorado | | | |
I've seen flocks like this a few times but not many. Mesmerizing to see them in flight and how they will uniformly change direction/formation on a dime. Would make for a great video opportunity.
- Posted by Paul from Decatur, IL | | | |
I've heard these birds every morning for the past week or two, but have never looked to see what they are doing at sunrise. I went out this morning to look, and they have been literally taking over the entire town. There are birds in every tree. They aren't 'swarming' in dense packs but are spread out more - in the fields, trees, everywhere. From what I've read, this is a daily routine for them in the winter. I've only heard them outside in the mornings for about a week or so now, so they must be in migration mode, passing through.
- Posted by Dan R. from New Baden, IL | | | |
I will probably try going out in the evenings a couple of times this week to shoot them again. Definitely would make for some interesting video.
- Posted by Dan R. from New Baden, IL | | | |
Love all the pics Dan! Red-winged blackbirds arriving here in New England is always one of my first and favorite signs that spring is on the way. Keep your eyes open for yellow-headed blackbirds and grackles (will have a longer, boat-shaped tail) in the mix. Keep the pics coming!
- Posted by Katie from Melrose, MA | | | |
Truly amazing. I think I would have cried to see so many birds.
- Posted by Katie from Melrose, MA | | | |
Thanks for posting! Must've been almost numbing to be in the midst of this
- Posted by Rick from Massachusetts | | | |
Unbelievable footage! I suppose these are redwings but the closeup of one looked like a rusty! Must have been quite an experience!
- Posted by Kirk from Massachusetts | | | |
You will get to see that twice in the year, :) Spring and fall.... We went down to the wildlife refuge down by the lock and dam in Alton and saw tons of geese and swan migrating through, plus its a great area for viewing the bald eagles.
Tara
- Posted by Tara | | | |
Thanks for the comments everyone. This was definitely an awesome experience.
- Posted by Dan R. from New Baden, IL | | | |
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