March 12, 2006 Tornado Intercept

Intercepted tornado in east central Illinois on March 12, 2006. This is the same tornado that did so much damage in Springfield, but about 35 minutes later.

Advance warning, its a night chase, so you won't see a whole lot in this, but I've slowed down some good shots including the tornado toward the end.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• storm
• chase
• tornado
• lightning
• Illinois

[pawleewurx]

nice job, I didn't know this gem was out there. I was located near Niantic IL that night and can fully appreciate the difficulty it was to follow this storm. since you were relatively close, did you experience the intense RFD that was with this storm?

[instormchaser]

At times, yes. However I approached from the south, and lemme tell ya, the inflow notch on the entrance region of the RFD was just as intense as the RFD itself. We stayed with this storm all the way to where it crossed the IN border and it went through several cycles during that time, but I could track each cycle by the intensity of the RFD.

[prairiestormwx]

I was working with Ed Kieser that night (the meteorologist on the radio) at WILL. I wanted to be out chasing but we needed all the help we could get in the weather office. As you probably heard we were on constant live coverage for about 5 hours.

[instormchaser]

I was in my wife's van that night, so I had no ham radio with me, and my weather radio quit working. I was hoping to find a local station that was broadcasting storm info and you guys did an excellent job! I was able to make a perfect intercept based solely on the information you guys provided and the use of a map.

[SuperUTBER]

I live in Urbana 

[bestiesx2]

i LIVE IN SPRINGFIELD EVEYTHING WAS COMPLETELY DAMAGED

[gosselinfan10]

ive heard of sandwich! its on this kids road atlas!

[cubsfan1591]

sandwich, about 60 miles southwest of chicago

[gosselinfan10]

i live in jacksonville wich is about thirty miles west of springfield. where did u live?

[cubsfan1591]

lucky. what town do you live in?

[gosselinfan10]

ya my dad couldnt find a job in mass. so they (my parents) moved back to illinios! lol

[cubsfan1591]

thats weird, half my familiy lives in illinois, but we moved because of a job transfer

[gosselinfan10]

ya i luv illinios too! i luve there but i was so close to living in massachusettes be cause halkf my family lives there!

[kooky112]

try getting a camera with night vision that would help. My uncle has one that he uses when he goes down in caves and stuff lol. I am so freaking afraid of tornadoes but I love watching them at the same time (off of tv of course). I remember a few years ago when I was at Cedar Point a tornado almost came down. Not a fun ride home either since a few tornadoes had touched down somewhere in front of us.