Iowa Chase 1 - 2 Punch
A strong thunderstorm developed during the morning hours southwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The storm was isolated in nature and was pushing to the southeast at 30 mph. I called up my chase partner to decide whether or not a backyard chase was feasible.
I drove to his place and we decide to meet up with the storm which would be in the vicinity of Northeast Iowa. We drove west through Dubuque, Iowa. The storm had strengthen into a severe thunderstorm that had developed a hook echo. The reflectivity was displaying some high intensity colors which was predominant of possible large hail. As we passed through Dubuque, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for this cell in extreme Northeast Iowa.
The storm had a stacked plate appearance to our northwest indicative of the rotation throughout the storm. We decided to travel west of the core to avoid the large hail which indeed was an issue as it had damaged cars and crops. The storm then move to our southeast and decided to let it go as it would be moving into tough terrain closer to the Mississippi River. The storm eventually died out soon after.
Redevelopment
James and I hung out at a local gas station in Delaware, Iowa off of highway 20. We were monitoring possible new development across Southern Minnesota moving southeast at our location. We drove northwest to meet up with towering cumulus clouds. We waited along a dirt road watching the storms develop and intensify. The storms were back building to the west and thought any chance of a tornado would occur on the backside of any storm. One particular storm did have a wall cloud which produced an interesting scud appearance representing a funnel cloud. Unfortunately, more storms developed back west and congealed into a line. We let the storm blow by us and headed back home. This time chasing in Iowa didn't let us down.
Make sure to browse the chase logs section for additional Storm Chasing Fever Chasing Adventures.
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