This day featured
another early season storm system with
the potential for tornadoes. With
storms forecasted within a couple of
hour drive from home, my son Ryan and I
took this opportunity to go out and
investigate. The Storm Prediction
Center put out a large Enhanced Risk of
Storms with a 10% hatched area for
Tornadoes.
We
headed south out of St.
Louis on Interstate 55
around 2:00pm.
Storms were already
firing and many becoming
severe warned for wind
and hail as we moved
southward.
As we
traveled down the
highway, we'd line
ourselves up with a
storm coming toward us,
exit the highway, and
watch it move by.
Then line ourselves up
with the next cell and
do the same. In
Perryville, MO, we
watched a cell come
toward us with a wall
cloud on the back side
of the storm. At
one point it got a small
knob on it giving us a
some hope for a
tornado.
Unfortunately, the
lowering quickly
disappeared. We
encountered pea size
hail as this storm
rolled by.
We
continued playing tag
with more storm
cells. We came up
behind another cell at
the Highway 'B' exit as
the back of the storm
and the last of the hail
was falling. We
found that storm had
dropped what would be
our biggest hail of the
day measuring up to
1.75" (golfball size)
laying around in the
grassy areas.
We
continued south again to
the Highway 'KK' exit
and encountered our
third cell dropping
hail. This time it
was mostly up to .75"
(penny size) as it
splashed in the puddles
and bounced in the
grass.
As this storm
left us, we
reevaluated our
situation with
more storms
coming toward
I-55 from the
west down by the
Missouri/Arkansas
border, but due
to the distance,
the amount of
time before
nightfall, and
the lack of
tornado
production with
the on-going and
previous storms,
our decision was
made to end our
day and return
home.
It was interesting that our
entire storm chase was on Interstate 55
utilizing 7 different exits along the way to
view multiple storm cells and three different
hail events. We never were more than a
quarter mile off of the interstate the entire
chase. The tornado forecast greatly
underachieved not only where we were, but even
further south where the prediction was higher
for tornado potential. Getting larger hail
is always a draw for me, so that made the trip
enjoyable.
Entire Trip Log
|
|
6.75 Hours
-
216 Miles
|
Click
on the link below to
see video of some of
these storms.
|
March 30, 2025 
