STORM TRACK: May 31, 1987 (Volume 10 Issue 4)

Greg Story mentions: "The one and only tornado outbreak in Iowa this year was April 14th. A vertically stacked closed low pressure system was moving across Missouri. As per usual, the air aloft was cold, and the air over the region was unstable. Lifting of the air was accomplished as a warm frontal boundary moved in from south central Iowa to near Moline, Illinois. Temperatures in Northern Iowa were in the 50's while southeast Iowa climbed into the upper 70's. The warm advection, isentropic lift, and presence of the front was enough to focus local convergence under the cold air pool aloft. With the aid of afternoon sunshine heating, a few thunderstorms fired along the warm front. These storms went up real fast, and produced four small tornadoes in southeast Iowa on one in western Illinois. The Iowa tornadoes occurred southeast of Ottumwa between 2:30 and 3 pm CDT. Later, the same thunderstorm cell moved northwestward and produced a tornado at Keota, about 50 miles south-southeast of Cedar Rapids at 4:20 pm. This tornado tore a 30 foot sheet of tin roofing off the Keota post office."

Ken Nakamura saw a multiple-vortex dust devil on April 18th in Perris, CA. "I observed as many as four separate vortices. The vortices would form on the south side of the circulation and move around counterclockwise to the northwest side and dissipate." It is interesting how this also occurs in larger scale tornadic flows.

Dave Hoadley sent in an unsolicited comment: "I have greatly enjoyed your videotape of the Canadian, Texas tornadoes and have viewed it several times. The scenes from inside the speeding car, action interviews with Phil Sherman as he drives, and the controlled chaos of two photographers snapping pictures and exulting at the uncontrolled spectacle of the three tornadoes, puts the viewer right there in the chase car and holds the attention until the last tornado fades from view. Congratulations on taking documentary chasing one step closer to a real art form." Editor: Thanks, Dave.

Richard Conn sent in his observations of Hurricane Elena: "It was midnight on September 2, 1985. I was driving west on I-10. All exits to the Gulf Coast were blocked by the National Guard. Hurricane Elena was gust south of Pensacola moving west-northwest at 20 mph. By 1 am, winds at my location were about 80 mph from the northeast. I kept driving toward Pascagoula. At 2 am, flashing blue, green, and purple lights vere all over the horizon as failing power lines created a symphony of electric lights. I parked along a seawall adjacent to a campground just west of Pascagoula Bay. Winds were now gusting to 120 mph. Large tree branches were falling on the road and over campground lanes behind me. I saw tree debris and smashed shelters blowing inland away from me through torrents of water. Winds were so strong, I thought my compact car was going to roll over. At 4:45 am, a pink sunrise reveals a thin cirrus overcast and winds decreased to near calm at 5:15 am. After being in the eye, I raced back to New Orleans to catch my plane back to Utah. The flight was cancelled."

Terry Kern from Boulder, CO likes the wind. "I was trying to sleep, but with the chinook shaking the house and making so much noise, my adrenaline was too pumped up to fall asleep. So at 1 am, I decided to drive around and listen to that beautiful wind. While at a stop light, a gust of wind blew a cloud of dust and rocks from a distant parking lot into my car. It sounded like driving through a wicked hailstorm. I realized something was wrong when I started getting pelted by gravel in the back of my head. After the wind let up, I turned around to see that the rear window had shattered and the back seat of the car was filled with rocks, dirt, and broken glass. I was quite unhappy at first, but realize that this is the type of adventurism I strive for."

Jack Corso got a sneak preview of the severe weather season. "On March 31, a slow moving cold front and low pressure system dragged across the eastern seaboard bringing high winds, heavy rains, and embedded thunderstorms. Three inch rains and winds to 60 mph lasted a long period causing local flooding and widespread power outages fram downed trees. I had to route Con Edison work crews to three emergency situations in my area to repair live wires in contact with the ground. While I did not experience any of the thunderstorms which did pass by, it sure looked like we were hit by one and gave me a good early season preparation for the weeks ahead."

On those dry days, C.L. Vlcek can remember how it was when storms were storms on the plains. "On April 15, 1972, Joe Golden, Bruce Morgan, and myself were intercepting a storm near Wichita Falls, TX which reportedly had a large VIP 6 core. We crossed in front of the storm and drove behind another cell which was spitting 1" diameter hail. Fortunately, the accelerator problem we had yesterday (which prevented the van from going mare than 20 mph) was fixed. Or so we thought it was fixed. With a solid brick wall closing in on us, the van faltered, and our hearts skipped a few beats. We headed southeast toward Nocona while the storm moved off to the northeast. Fist-size hail fell in St. Jo. We then spotted a large funnel against the precipitation which killed it before we could set up our cameras."

Editor's note: I appreciate the following chasers stopping by this spring: Richard Conn, Jason Blakeslee, and Greg Grabijas.