April 27, 2026    
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My son and I took a chance today on seeing a Tornado.  The Storm Prediction Center put out a forecast for a Moderate Risk of Storms with a 15% double hatched area for Tornadoes.

Our initial plan was to target the storms that would initiate in the late afternoon, but some storms formed early in the afternoon and became Tornado warned as it passed over the house, so we decided to follow these storms.  The Tornadic storm had a little head start on us by the time Ryan joined me and we headed out after the storm as it moved into Illinois. We headed east on I-70 behind the line of storms. 




The storm continued to be tornado warned.  We eventually got out in front of the storm in Perron, Illinois and watched the line come toward us.  The radar indicated there was rotation occuring within the line.  At one point, there appeared to be a lowering in the clouds with the clouds rotating into the darkened area.  We believe what we saw may have been a brief Tornado. It remains unclear whether there was a tornado in the haze or not.






Edit:  Found out a Tornado did touch down 14 minutes out in front of us as we traveled east on Interstate 70 near Highway 4, the exit before the Perron exit.  Unfortunately, we did not get a visual of that confirmed Tornado.
As this line of storms weakened, we backtracked on Interstate 70 and took the exit North on Highway 255.  We now were targeting a new line of storms that had formed in Missouri heading into Illinois.  The storms became Severe Thunderstorm warned and had some very minor rotation.  We stayed out ahead of the storms on Highway 140 as the storms continued to move east.  Visually, the storms looked good as we traveled east with them.



As we hit Interstate 55, we moved north and then followed the storms east of the interstate, but it became obvious the storms were not building in severity.  With little hope of any Tornado, we headed back to Interstate 55 and made the decision to leave the storms and head back toward home.
Once back home, Ryan leaves for his house and I sit down thinking I'm done for the day.  Wasn't sitting long until a final line of storms takes aim at the house and sirens sound again as the second tornado warning for the day at our house is issued.  I watched from the front porch as the rotating part of the storm goes by just to the north.

Seeing things looked a bit interesting again, I hopped back in the car this time going solo, and once again, rode along side of the storm on Interstate 270 as it rolled into Illinois.  As I'm driving, my wife Sally informs me they took to the basement due to the storm's loud roar.  A look at radar showed the house got hit with 70-80mph wind.



I exited the Interstate at Highway 111 in Illinois and watched the same part of the storm that hit the house, go by my location, but the winds were a bit weaker.




Once the heavy part of the storm passed, I drove back into Missouri and took the side roads to view what kind of damage the storm had done.  There were numerous large tree limbs down, many laying in the roadway.





It appeared my own neighborhood took on the most damage.  Many large limbs were snapped off along with some whole trees toppled over.  A lot of clean up was required by many in the neighborhood.







Travel Log
7.5 Hours  -  197 Miles
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