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Chicago Area Derecho Events


Chicago Storm

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9/21/10...

Environment:

Soundings...

12z DVN

12z ILX

0z ILX

datah.png

Event:

As a disturbance moved in from the southwest, development occured during the late morning/early afternoon across Iowa ahead of convection from the previous night,as a distrubance pushed in from the southwest. convection organized into a loose MCS and pushed ENE across the CWA and eventually into Michigan, producing a widespread swath of damaging winds on the way.

As for meso vorticies, there were quite a few with this event. MV's 1-9, 16, 24-25 were associated with small discrete cells which developed ahead of the main line. These were fairly weak, shallow, and short lived. Most of the MVs with the main line were fairly weak and short lived too. MV 11, 14, and 15 were decent for a time and featured some of the longest tracks. Severe wind reports were scattered across the area, some near MV tracks. Also, there were many times where outflow would race ahead of portions of the line before it either caught oup or re-development occured.

The below map shows MV tracks and severe wind reports:

mvtracksreports.png

radar1.png

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Wow, this thread makes me want to move to Chicagoland lol. You guys get a lot of action out there to the east. Good work Chi-storm. Very interesting. :guitar:

Quad Cities area must've had some good events too. What was that event where Moline had a gust of like 107 mph?

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Quad Cities area must've had some good events too. What was that event where Moline had a gust of like 107 mph?

That was actually the infamous 3/12/06 early spring severe weather/tornado outbreak. The weird thing about that was the QC was still north of the warm front when that happened, in mid 40 degree temps. An elevated supercell blew through and caused that. I don't know if internal gravity wave action immediately north of the warm front helped induce/enhance the winds or what, but that's pretty strong winds for so early in the season. I guess it's possible that the RFD from that cell did in fact make it to the surface and caused the strong wind.

The most recent strong wind event for the QC was the 94mph wind that was measured at MLI on 7/21/08. That was another example of a strong meso-vortex. Unfortunately 2 people lost their lives in Colona (a few miles east of Moline) when a tree fell and crushed a tent at a camp ground. Several 100ft+ 100+ year old cotton wood trees were uprooted along the Hennepin canal near Colona that morning.

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That was actually the infamous 3/12/06 early spring severe weather/tornado outbreak. The weird thing about that was the QC was still north of the warm front when that happened, in mid 40 degree temps. An elevated supercell blew through and caused that. I don't know if internal gravity wave action immediately north of the warm front helped induce/enhance the winds or what, but that's pretty strong winds for so early in the season. I guess it's possible that the RFD from that cell did in fact make it to the surface and caused the strong wind.

The most recent strong wind event for the QC was the 94mph wind that was measured at MLI on 7/21/08. That was another example of a strong meso-vortex. Unfortunately 2 people lost their lives in Colona (a few miles east of Moline) when a tree fell and crushed a tent at a camp ground. Several 100ft+ 100+ year old cotton wood trees were uprooted along the Hennepin canal near Colona that morning.

Wow, that's really impressive. There were some weird occurrences in that 3/12 event.

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Wow, that's really impressive. There were some weird occurrences in that 3/12 event.

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but here's a close in GR2A 88D DVN image of that 107mph storm from 3/12/06. Sure doesn't look impressive here. Strong winds destroyed a car wash in Silvis (northeast of the MLI) with this storm as well.

post-613-0-01726600-1312952626.png

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8/24/98...

Environment:

Meso analysis not avaliable. Refer to the 12z DVN sounding below...

12z DVN

Derecho Event:

This event actually stated back up in ND/SD the evening of the 23rd. The severe activity was sustained through the night as it pushed southeast into Iowa by the early morning hours of the 24th. Storm mode was in the form of supercells for a time near Iowa Falls, before transitioning into HP cell and finally linear modes. Activity really organized near the Waterloo area and then raced eastward towards the IA/IL border and then into the CWA around noon. There was a fairly widespread swath of damaging winds across the heart of the CWA. The most significant winds and damage occured across the following counties: Southern Winnebago, Ogle, DeKalb, Kane, northern Kendall, DuPage, Will, Central/Southern Cook, Lake(IN), Porter(IN). Note: The darkest shaded area is where the worst of the winds/damage occured per DVN/LOT write-ups.

As for meso vorticies, there were several... Most were short in track though were fairly well defined for a time. The strongest and most long track was MV1. It initially started one with one of the HP cells in far NW. Illinois, before transitioning into a nice bookend vortex on the northern portion of the line. While there was enhanced damaging winds and reports near MV's, the most significant damage occured to the south of the bookend vortex (MV1). Note: Radar data is missing from DVN, so it's possible MV1 and 2 extended farther west.

Out of all of the events I have done analysis on in this thread thus far, this was probably my favorite.

The map below shows MV tracks and severe wind/tornado reports:

mvtracksreports.png

mv1t.png

396bf053fabe2e8aabe62efa538f450c.gif

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7/18/97...

Environment:

Meso analysis not avaliable. Refer to 12 and 0z soundings from DVN and ILX below...

12z DVN

12z ILX

0z ILX

Event:

The main MCS for this event actually developed in SD during the night before. It pushed eastward into MN and east-southeast into WI and then finally southeast into the LOT CWA. Ahead of the main MCS, activity developed off of the lake breeze in NE. Illinois and NW. Indiana. As fo the main event, it swept through the CWA NW-SE. Even through there are not many reports, info from LOT and radar data show there was widespread damaing winds and wind damage in the shaded area.

There were also several meso vorticies with the event. MV1, 2,3, and 8 were associated with the lake breeze activity. These MV's were fairly weak and short lived. MV13 and 15 were the notable. MV13 produced and F1 tornado in Wheaton and MV15 produced an F1 tornado near Mokena. Both of these MV's were well defined for a time and featured some of the longest tracks. What wind reports were logged were mostly near MV tracks...Though as previously mentioned, LOT info suggests there was widespread severe winds and damage in several counties.

The below map shows MV tracks and severe wind/tornado reports:

mvtracksreports.png

mv1314.png

08a73eeed827bafb5976662e57f47b72.gif

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6/18/98...

Environment:

Meso analysis not avaliable. Refer to 12 and 0z soundings below...

12z DVN

12z ILX

0z ILX

Event:

An inital line/cluster of severe storms moved through the western portion of the LOT CWA during the early-mid afternoon hours. The main line of storms developed from IA down into NE. Oklahoma during the afternoon. This line pushed east-northeast into the CWA by evening. Even though there are not too many severe reports, LOT write-up info and radar data suggests there was widespread severe winds/damage across several counties in the CWA.

There were numerous meso vorticies with this event. MV's 1-5 were all associated with the initial small line/cluster of several storms across the western portion of the CWA. These MV's were weak, shallow, and mostly short in track. The rest of the Mv's were associated with the main line. Most of these MV's were also fairly weak, shallow, and short lived. The most significant was MV6, which appears to be responsible for an F0 tornado between Nelson and Dixon. There were also several waterspouts reported offshore from Wilmette, over Lake Michigan...MV25 may have been partly responsible for some of these. As mentioned above, LOT write-up info and radar data suggests there was widespread severe winds/damaging across several counties, which is represented by the shaded area.

The below map shows MV tracks and severe wind/tornado reports:

mvtracksreportso.png

58d9f5d44708655caaa6c585058b7e3d.gif

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  • 1 month later...

7/5/03...

Event:

The main MCS developed during the evening of July 4th in NW. Iowa. It raced eastward along the instibility gradient into N. Illinois early on the 5th and was being supported by a westerly 50knt+ flow aloft. There were several MVS's associated with this derecho, but only two were significant. MV2 and MV7 both helped produce enhanced areas of damaging winds. MV2 was the strongest while in Winnebago County, where it produced widespread significant severe winds/damage. A 104mph wind gust was measured on the west side of Rockford. MV7 also produced widespread wind damage, but in a smaller area. There was significant tree and house/building damage in this small area, with a measured 88mph gust in Chicago Lawn. The shaded area shows where the most widespread winds/damage occured. Across Ogle-Kane Counties no clear MV's were seen and it appears to have been more of a long lasting downburst, as higher velocities were located in the heaviest precip.

Soundings:

0z DVN

12z DVN

Reports/MV Tracks:

7503mvs.png

Radar:

7503radar1.png

6308ca4d63707e9b859ef0d8b285c32f.gif

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5/21/04...

Event:

This MCS originated from severe storms which developed across KS/NE/SD/MN on the evening of the 20th. Upscale growth into the main MCS occured in far N. Iowa. This complex then raced southeast just north of a warm front in place, making it into N. Illinois during the mid-morning hours on the 21st. This event didn't have any clear cut MV's associated with it. The severe winds/damage occured with the outflow just ahead of the line. The shaded region is where the most widespread severe winds/damage occured based on reports and the LOT write-up. The highest wind report was a measured 70mph gust in Streamwood.

Soundings:

DVN not avaliable

12z ILX

12z GRB

52104mvsreports.png

Radar:

rad1.png

bbea68e2db80c2b585c147ba3240df28.gif

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Unless the Chicago area wasn't affected a whole lot by that storm, do you have any information on the "Corn Belt derecho" (per Wikipedia) of 6/29/1998 which hammered much of Iowa and central/western Illinois (particularly Peoria)? Many areas around Peoria had no electrical service from that storm for days afterward. I thought I had also heard that ILX may have had each and every one of their counties--all the way from Knox County (Galesburg) to Lawrence County (Lawrenceville) under at least one storm warning throughout the duration of that storm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_Belt_Derecho

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Unless the Chicago area wasn't affected a whole lot by that storm, do you have any information on the "Corn Belt derecho" (per Wikipedia) of 6/29/1998 which hammered much of Iowa and central/western Illinois (particularly Peoria)? Many areas around Peoria had no electrical service from that storm for days afterward. I thought I had also heard that ILX may have had each and every one of their counties--all the way from Knox County (Galesburg) to Lawrence County (Lawrenceville) under at least one storm warning throughout the duration of that storm.

http://en.wikipedia....rn_Belt_Derecho

I didn't look into it too much given it didn't directly affect the Chicago area, but here are a few maps/radar images from the event...

Looking at the IEM loop, it does appear all counties in the ILX CWA were under a warning at some point, and most were under a tornado warning. Just taking a quick look at the radar data, there were numerous MV's with this event.

e3899bfe3e23661ceb8c93eb12f0daff.gif

62998.png

62998reports.png

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7/11/11...

Event:

The main derecho originated from severe storms that developed in CO/KS/NE the evening of the 10th. These storms pushed ENE overnight, with upscale growth into the main derecho occuring in C. Iowa. The MCS pushed into the LOT CWA during the mid morning hours on the 11th. This complex was racing eastward, feeding on CAPE of 4000-5000 j/kg and supported by a 50-60kt flow aloft. Severe winds/damage were fairly widespread across the northern 1/2 of the LOT CWA. Unlike several other cases looked at in this thread, this event didn't feature too many MV's and most of the severe winds/damage was not enhanced by MV's. The only MV of note with this event was MV2, which likely did enhance severe wind/damage in a small corridor along it's long path.

Soundings:

DVN not avaliable.

12z ILX

12z GRB

71111enviro.png

71111reportsmvs.png

26d70ef9b925b4c1db272330bb57de2d.gif

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5/18/97...

Event:

Initial discrete cells developed from S. wisconsin down into E. Iowa grew upscale into two bowing MCS's, which pushed eastward. Most MV's from this event were associated with the discrete cells and as the transition into the derecho took place. Several of the MV's were well defined for a time, with several featuring long tracks. MV4 was the most noteworthy, producing an F2 tornado in Lindenhurst. The main area of severe winds/damage occured after MV's 1, 2 and 7 merged and a mature bow formed.

Soundings:

12z DVN

0z DVN

12z ILX

0z ILX

51897reportsmvs.png

rad2t.png

rad1.png

72af32b41ac4344f50a4ff0fb1af350c.gif

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