May 13, 2009

Sullivan County (Milan/Green City) and Adair County (Novinger/Kirksville) tornadoes

Click here for my video of the event or see my pictures below.

I began the day departing Southern Wisconsin at roughly 9am, targeting an area roughly bounded by a line from Quincy, IL to Kirksville, MO to Columbia, MO to St. Louis, MO. In that area (roughly the northeast quadrant of Missouri), it appeared conditions would be highly favorable for tornadoes by mid to late afternoon if persistent clouds would clear out allowing the atmosphere to destabilize.  I crossed into Missouri at Hannibal when it became apparent to me that I would need to be closer to the cold front further west into Missouri to have any shot at a good daytime supercell.  I stopped for lunch at Subway in Shelbina then continued westward toward Macon where I needed to make a decision. Storms were firing along the cold front and two storms appeared to have the best shot to remain isolated.  Storm #1 was located roughly due west of Macon in the vicinity of Meadeville and Linneus.  Another storm near Gault appeared like it was going to merge with a left moving storm near Kirksville.  The merger never happened, but I was drawn north out of Macon toward Kirksville given the possibility.  I briefly stopped at the Super 8 in Kirksville which had a good view to the west before making a decision to either target the Adair County storm, or head southwest toward the Linn County storm.  I watched the still distant Adair County storm begin to develop a crisp anvil edge and a strong backsheared anvil indicative if its increasing strength.  I headed north through Kirksville and then westward toward Green City on Highway 6.  While driving west between Novinger and Green City, the first tornado warning was issued for the storm.  I approached Green Castle (between Green City and Novinger), when a fairly stout rain-wrapped tornado became visible to my WSW just to the southwest of Green City.  I immediately reported the tornado to the National Weather Service via SpotterNetwork and was able to snap a few pictures before I rapidly roped out.  It was soon apparent the storm was going to produce another tornado as a new rapidly rotating lowering developed ESE of the rope tornado.  I turned around and headed back east toward Novinger when I noticed a cone funnel developing just to the SSW of the intersection of Highway 6 and Highway 149.  Soon, a truncated cone tornado developed and I noted some fairly large debris being strewn about under the condensation funnel.  The tornado appeared to sit stationary for roughly a minute or so and then began moving eastward.  I reported the new tornado to the National Weather Service as I watched it grow from a relatively slender cone into a rather large 1/4 mile wide tornado.  A red Jeep passed me as I began to drive eastward on Highway 6 apparently unaware there was a tornado about to move along the highway where the highway jogs southeast and then eastward again.  I filmed the tornado as it neared Highway 6 and watched the tail lights of the Jeep disappear into the rapidly rotating rain curtains and the watched as sub-vortices rotated around the main tornado only 1/8 to 1/4 mile in front of me!  As I began to move forward again, I came upon the Jeep which had been blown into the ditch and had most of it's windows blown out.  I stopped to check on the occupant of the vehicle and offered him a ride to Kirksville.  He told me he was going to try and drive out of the ditch which he was successful doing.  Just up the highway, power lines blocked the road and I briefly interviewed the occupant of the Jeep.  A brave motorist drove across the power line successfully so I followed.  I then came up a house at the intersection of Highway 6 and Campbell Cemetery Trail which was completely destroyed.  The occupants of the house were outside walking around and all appeared to be un-injured.  I was blocked 2 more times by downed power lines and debris in the road, and the approximately 10 mile trip back to Kirksville took about an hour.