June 22, 2016 Tampico-Deer Grove, IL supercell

Over the last few days there has been much hype surrounding severe weather today.  There was much uncertainty regarding the location storms would initiate, as well as the dominant storm mode.  I knew it would be a late decision on whether to chase or not due to the timing of early morning convection and how far north the warm front would make it.  Around 3PM I decided to start hedging west in hopes that I could be close to where the storms would develop.  However, from about 3-5PM I kept shifting west and slightly south as it seemed to be the most pristine environment for supercells.  Around 6PM I was south of Dixon, IL and noticed the rapid development of a supercell just west of me.  So, I dropped south and headed west toward Tampico-Deer Grove, IL.  Upon arriving there, I witnessed a really beautiful supercell starting to transition to a high precipitation variety.  I played around in the bear's cage for awhile and had some fun.  I let the storm roll by as it was supposedly producing a tornado (I could not see any tornado because of the heavy rain) and headed home by threading the needle on two tornado warned storms.  Overall, it was a great celebration of earning my Ph.D. this past week.  For those few that read/look at my photos taken with a 10 year old DSLR, enjoy.