CHASE REPORT

APRIL 30, 2010

Peter Creedon
Today was one of those days where I hadnt been feeling well. I
was suffering from one of those springtime colds. I had been
watching the NWS radars @ KEAX and KLSX. KEAX was showing tons of
action. Now, I was longing to be like the well-established
chasers: laptop with radar software, a digital camera, and GPS. I
had none of those things. All I had was a Ford Ranger, a CB, and
my two peepers. To show what storm structure looked like, I drew
it in a sketchbook.
The action across western Missouri was slowly sliding east. I
took some Alka-Seltzer and left the house. I decided my target
area would be a box extending from Jefferson City north to Mexico
and east to Bowling Green to Warrenton and Union. This action
box is where I would conduct my operations. I arrived in the
box. Through the haze, I could see the anvils. I sat in Kingdom
City where I could get wi-fi for my iPod Touch. There had been a
blue box issued and the action was slowly pressing east.
At 2:30 PM I finally realized there was a thunderstorm pressing
down on me. The sky was dark with the occasional flicker of
lightning. So far, this was turning into a dud. My weather radio
went off; a TOR watch had been issued by the SPC. Finally, I
thought, we could be getting somewhere. My little thunderstorm
was pressing east, so I decided to follow it along I-70. The
storm wasnt moving very fast, so, it was easy to outrun. I was
back in the metro area by 6 PM.
We were still not done, however. I decided to head towards
Jefferson County. I knew the hilly terrain would screw me, so I
stayed along 55. The air was humid and still. The radio went off
yet again. This time it was for a TOR warning for parts of
Franklin, Crawford, Washington, and St. Francois County. To chase
there, you had to be careful, and know the terrain. I wasnt
going to risk it. At a quarter to 8 a new warning was issued. I
seemed to be in the path of the tornado, or at least in the
warning area. The sirens were going off.
I made it back to 55 and headed to Pevely. I stopped at the
McStop on Hwy Z and waited. The rain was falling quite heavily.
Then I began to fear. I feared this thing would be rain wrapped.
Another warning had been issued, this time to the south towards
Ste. Genevieve County. I felt relived, but moments later the
sirens started going off. I was in the path! I sped out of the
truck stop and onto 55. I wanted to call off the chase because by
now it was dark and my lesson from Easter still hurt. My wipers
could hardly keep up with the rain.
There seemed to be no end to this storm. I passed into Saint
Louis County and made it up to 270 and even that was slow going.
The rain seemed to let up the closer I got to MO 364, and by the
time I got into Saint Charles County the rain had lightened
considerably. Spotter chatter confirmed that there was indeed a
tornado on the ground, but could not be seen clearly due to it
being nighttime and with the rain. I was back home by 10 PM after
a long chase day.