Midwest Chasing

At this time there are 13 tornado warnings stretching from far southwest Illinois, into Missouri, and ending into Oklahoma. The Storm Prediction Center has a preliminary tally of 30 possible tornadoes for today.

The city of Springfield, Missouri has seen wave after wave of tornadic supercells hitting the same area over and over.

This day just keeps getting crazier. The Storm Prediction Center just issued the first PDS Tornado Watch for a large part of Missouri and Western Illinois. From what it looks like, the Kenosha area tornado might have been a violent one as there were reports of homes swept away to their foundations. In Northern Illinois, the Boone county area was  hammered by tornadoes.

Half an hour ago, Springfield, Missouri was under a Tornado Emergency; the last time there was a Tornado Emergency was Greensberg, Kansas.

 URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
   TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 2
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   235 PM CST MON JAN 7 2008

   THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
   TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

          PARTS OF SOUTHEAST IOWA
          MUCH OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS
          SMALL PART OF NORTHWEST INDIANA
          LAKE MICHIGAN

   EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 235 PM UNTIL 900
   PM CST.

   TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
   GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
   AREAS.

   THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 95 STATUTE
   MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PEORIA
   ILLINOIS TO 40 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF MEIGS FIELD ILLINOIS.
   FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
   OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).

   REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
   TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
   AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
   THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS
   AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

   OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 1...

   DISCUSSION...WITH THE UNSEASONABLY WARM AND MDTLY UNSTABLE AIR MASS
   AHEAD OF COLD FRONT ACROSS WATCH AREA AND THE VERY STRONG SHEAR
   ENVIRONMENT...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY NRN IL.  IN ADDITION
   TO THE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THREAT...A COUPLE OF TORNADOES
   ARE LIKELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE MORE DISCRETE UPDRAFTS NOW DEVELOPING
   NERN MO AND NWRN IL.

   AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
   SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
   WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
   450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23045.

 MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0015
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   0147 PM CST MON JAN 07 2008

   AREAS AFFECTED...ERN IA..NERN MO..NRN/CENTRAL IL..SRN WI..FAR NWRN
   IN

   CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...TORNADO WATCH LIKELY 

   VALID 071947Z - 072045Z

   SEVERE THREAT APPEARS TO BE INCREASING AS UNSEASONABLY WARM/MOIST
   WARM SECTOR FUELS SURFACE-BASED INSTABILITY ACROSS THIS REGION.  WW
   MAY BE NEEDED IN THE NEXT HOUR OR SO.

   IMPULSE LIFTING NNEWD ACROSS NRN IA IS LIKELY ENHANCING CONVECTION
   DEVELOPING FROM NERN MO INTO FAR ERN IA AT 19Z...WHERE AXIS OF
   MODEST MLCAPE IS IN PLACE.  MLCAPE FROM 500-750 J/KG IS EVIDENT
   EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH LITTLE OR NO CAP OVER FAR ERN IA AND NRN
   IL/FAR SERN WI.  IN ADDITION...STRONG SSWLY SURFACE WINDS ACROSS THE
   REGION ARE MAINTAINING ENHANCED LOW LEVEL SHEAR WITH SFC-1 KM SRH
   NOW IN EXCESS OF 200 M2/S2.  UNSEASONABLY WARM/MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER
   EXTENDS WELL NWD INTO THE SRN GREAT LAKES AND...GIVEN BOTH DEGREE OF
   SHEAR AND INCREASING THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL...TORNADO WW MAY BE
   WARRANTED SOON INTO THIS AREA.