StansWeather.net

Ah, finally a nice slight risk area on a Saturday in Illinois! I had planned on leaving early for this, but that plan was quickly shot down as I turned on my laptop. As my computer was booting up, I had several ants crawl across the screen and keyboard. As I looked down on the floor, I saw alot more of them. (must have been all the rain we had in the past week) So before even getting to look at a Day 1 outlook, I shut the computer off and began my assault on the ants. (when they attacked my computer, that was an automatic declaration of war in my eyes!) I began my offensive with the dirt devil (how appropriate!) vacuum sucking up as many ants as possible. Apparently ants like lots of wires as they were traveling along my power and computer cables.

Step 2 entailed containment of the ants. Armed with a mixture of vinegar and water spray bottle, I proceeded to spray all along the walls and floor where I was finding ants. This seemed to drive them away a little bit, but I was still finding them. Step 3 brought about some special ant food called Terro. It’s a liquid that you put on a small piece of cardboard and place in areas where ants like to roam. Within minutes of putting this on the floor, the ants were gathering in circles to eat this stuff. Apparently the ants eat this stuff and take it back to their nest where they then die with the rest of their friends and family. This seemed to be working and I was finally able to focus on other things like that slight risk area engulfing the entire state of Illinois!

Nothing like waking up to a moderate risk in mid June. The tornado threat was forecast further north and west, but a widespread damaging wind event looked very probably for central IL. I monitored the setup throughout the day and had two target areas in mind. One would take me to west central IL and the other would take me southwest of Springfield. I would make that decision after work and base it on present satellite/radar conditions.

I left work at 3:00pm and I still wasn’t quite sure which way to head. I finally decided to head west and go after the cell that was all by itself. I departed Champaign around 3:30pm after topping off the gas tank at $2.34/gallon. I headed northwest on I-74 and then jogged west on RT 136. Several severe thunderstorm warnings were issued on the cell that I was going after, but on radar it appeared to be dying. I was almost there, so I decided to stick with it and see what happens.

I wasn’t planning on chasing today, but a leftover squall line / bow echo made its way from Iowa into Illinois this afternoon. The NWS in Lincoln wasn’t too confident that it would stay severe given the shallow dewpoints at the 850mb level. Regardless, it was fun to watch it trigger numerous severe and even a few tornado warnings throughout the afternoon. I could see them weakening as they progressed eastward into Illinois, but still was willing to go out and watch them after work.

I went home at 4:00pm and gathered up the gear. I made a pit stop to fill up the gas tank at a whopping $2.39/gallon and then made my way south of town. I checked radar and saw a little cell firing up to my WSW, so figured I’d go wait for that one to come to me. I picked a spot at CR 400N / 550 E and waited for the little cell to come to me. I decided to get out the anemometer out of storage (aka my trunk) and see if it still worked. I stuck it on the roof and was instantly getting readings. As soon as I setup my tripod, it of course started raining. So I scrambled into the car and then realize I left the display of the anemometer laying on the trunk. So I go back out to get it and get soaked with the wind driven rain. Anywho, I got back in the car and shot a little video of the rain and wind. (wasn’t much else to shoot) The highest wind gust that I recorded was 37 mph, so nothing even close to severe in the area.