We’ve just released Episode 2 of Unreal Weather. We’ve made a lot of changes to the format to make it more of a show than just the random video stream in Episode 1. We hope you like the changes and we’re looking forward to even more new features in Episode 3. You can watch a streaming video below or else download the show in high definition from the link below.

Download in 1080p HIGH DEFINITION wmv here.

Below is the trace from yesterday’s chase. The tornado icon near Edina, MO is where at tornado was reported earlier and where we ran into the debris which consisted of entire downed trees, damaged shed roofs, and a flattened shed. There may have been more, but we were unable to cross the road at 2 places because of downed trees (see pic below). [5/14/09 19:10 CDT by Jason]

Total Chase Miles: 940

Click on image to view it larger. See full size image here.
We made it back to our home base around 2 a.m. last night. Not much time for reflection or posts. In our chasing yesterday, we ran smack into the destruction path of a tornado that had been reported 20 minutes earlier. The debris field covered not 1, but 2 of our south bound roads and pretty much stopped us from getting to any more tornado warnings because the third path south was much to far out of the way. We got some video of the destruction and will have it posted later with the video. [5/14/09 16:50 CDT by Jason]

The storm we were following had a MAJOR outbreak and caused damage to MANY homes along the way. Unfortunately there was also one* death related to this series of storms, see the Kirksville,MO article here.

*There are now two confirmed deaths in Kirksville. Although this storm was very well foretasted and warned, not everyone has the proper shelter to protect them from these events. It is a very sad event that happens all too often but our thoughts go out to the families of these victims.

* Other updates were posted via Twitter due to the ease of access.

-Update 2: The system has finally started to develop. The first tornado warning of the day has been issued for northern Missouri. We have just crossed over into Iowa and heading for north eastern Missouri so we can get in line with the wall of storms forming. [17:25 by Jason]

-Update 1: We are in Western Illinois trying to find a good place to stake out and watch the storm develop. The one that is going to be hitting us hasn’t formed at all yet, but its only a matter of time. We’re going to Camp Point, IL right now because it has a few good highways from which to make a quick chase from.  [15:40 by Jason]

– We are currently heading east on I80 through Iowa. There is a very high chance for severe weather in Illinois today and we figured it would be worth the 5 hour drive to partake in this event. We’ll be streaming live video when we get closer to the storms. Currently all we have is gray skies with very low lying clouds. [09:21 by Jason]

Ø – Just got back from an 11 hour storm chase. Not really worth it. I was extremely close to a strong tornado at one point, but my internet crapped out that far west so I lost radar and couldn’t locate the tornado in time. One bright note is I met some very nice storm chasers from the Chasing4Life Team and was given tour of their amazing equipment and vehicles. Thanks Eddy! The 3 images below are from this chase. First is the Trace I followed, a total round trip of 505 miles. Second is where I was in relationship to the storm. Last is the radar images from the tornado. [00:30 by Jason]

Click on image to view it larger.

Click on image to view it larger.

Click on image to view it larger.

Ø – The storm Jason was chasing dissipated VERY quickly after it went past the radar site KLNX so the chase was ended shortly there after. [20:51 by Jared]

Ø – Tornado warning for Thomas and Hooker counties canceled at 20:15. [20:20 by Jared]

Ø – The Storm is almost directly on top of KLNX radar site so it is very dificult to determine information about the storm at this time. [20:02 by Jared]

Ø – Jason is out alone tonight but he is sitting directly east of a tornado warning in Thomas and Hooker counties in Nebraska.[20:00 by Jared]

Ø – Approaching tornado warning [~20:00 by Kxronos from Twitter]

Ø – Heading north in the middle of the state to intercept an eastern moving storm [~18:00 by Kxronos from Twitter]

Ø – Currently in York,NE watching the Radar to see if any good storms form to the west as predicted. [~15:00 by Kxronos from Twitter]

Stormy Moon. By Jason Flaherty

Our second Chase was not as productive or successful as the first one. It was a long shot for tornadic activity to form, but we were anxious to get out chasing again after the long break since chase 1.

The chase was centered around north western Missouri. We made our way there via Rock Port, MO and proceeded south on I29 trying to get ahead of where prediction centers said the storm would be passing. It soon became apparent that the storm had changed coarse and was following the northern edge of Missouri so we headed back north through Maryville up to Albany.

At Albany we finally ran into the storm, but it seemed to be dying while we watched. We decided to head home because the sun was fading along with the storm. Sure enough however, 5 minutes after we departed from the storm cell, it produced a funnel cloud reaching midway to the earth in north eastern Daviess county. It was too late for us to turn back though.

Below, like last time, is the path we followed starting in Lincoln and ending back in Lincoln.

Click on image to view it larger. See full size image here.