Friday, May 30, 2008

Tornado Warnings For Central Illinois


Date May 30th, 2008 - Thunderstorm Which Came Through Jerome, Illinois


I got the date wrong, I've been on vacation all this week, and I didn't know it was May 30th.

The warning siren is several long blocks away. These are new sirens which replaced the older ones damaged by the tornadoes that came through Jerome two years ago. They are VERY loud - which is a good thing.

I'm not sure but I believe this video includes a very short lived funnel cloud. There was some rotation in the clouds as they were coming over town. One low hanging very fast moving cloud lifted up very quickly as it hit the city.

This cloud lifting effect often happens as a city is usually warmer than outlying areas since cities are lined with roads, structures, and parking lots - all of which retain heat. Rising heat from a city creates a protective thermal bubble which lifts clouds up as they move over a city - thus reducing the incidence of tornadoes in urban areas.

Note the short tree in the middle of our yard. That tree was once very tall - as tall as the other trees which I show to the left of it. But another very large tree came smashing down upon it two years ago when a tornado came right through our neighborhood.

I believe I took this video at 6:10-6:20 in the area which was when a funnel cloud was spotted over Springfield, Illinois by law enforcement (per WICS).

UPDATE

I am adding content to this post as of 8:48 P.M. Central DST, and I'm watching WICS TV 20's continuous coverage of this storm system. They are taking these storms, which have spawned several tornadoes, very seriously.

The tornado warning for Sangamon County has been ended, but now there's a thunderstorm warning, and a flash flood warning in Sangamon County.

Springfield, Illinois and surrounding communities are getting hit by one storm after another. The radar shows a string of isolated storm cells moving in a line for over one hundred miles - and they are headed right this way. So we should expect more storms for hours to come.

Gotta go for now
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4 comments:

Marie said...

Great video. I believe that was a funnel cloud. Fortunately, there wasn't enough momentum behind it and it dissipated.

May 30, 2008 9:33 PM
Anonymous said...

hey JP, i make it a habit to check the sj-r website periodically through the day, and i last checked it around 5 pm eastern time, and since then have been checking the weather for central illinois. of course i read everyones blogs too. but your video is great (as my mom said). im in upstate NY and they have sirens but i have only heard them from a distance and they are not nearly as powerful as springfields, but my cat heard them from your recording and began to freak out. im probably moving back to springfield, later this year, and i kindly informed her, she would be hearing much more of those sirens. i know you like cats, so i thought you would think that was cute. anyway, thanks for keeping me posted all the way out here. glad springfield is safe, for tonight.

May 30, 2008 10:03 PM
JeromeProphet said...

Marie & Allie:

Those little short lived cone shaped depressions coming out of the clouds were a good sign of the spinning going on in those clouds.

Thank goodness they dissipated.

Speaking of cats, as you may know, we have four, and while the sirens were blaring, and WICS was warning everyone to take shelter my spouse was rounding our cats up.

They've been through this several times before, and they know that the sirens mean confinement.

Cats never seem to forget, and cats don't like confinement.

We rounded up three cats really quickly, but the forth had found a VERY good hiding place, and it took us forever to find her. As a matter of fact we only found her when she came out.

And we had searched everywhere for her - everywhere.

We were both blaming each other for leaving the door open, and not noticing when the cat ran out - but we both knew that couldn't have happened.

The rain was pouring down, and the lightning was flashing, and I was out on the porch making the little calling sounds cats seem to respond to in order to get her back.

Of course there was no response, because she was inside hiding up inside the inner workings of a couch.

What a nightmare, and this was while I was supposed to be taking shelter from any tornadoes lurking about.

Glad to hear that you may be coming back to Springfield.

Just make sure you have enough spacious cat carriers, and know all of your cats favorite hiding places, and you'll be alright.

JP

May 30, 2008 10:31 PM
Anonymous said...

i do have a carrier for her, but her resistance towards it, almost seems that of some sort of body buider. so, insead of loosing my hand, she wears a harness (like what they put on little dogs) and a leash, and travels around quite well. im glad they dont really have tornado type weather in northern NY, but the winters are brutal.

May 30, 2008 11:15 PM

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