Even though it is
getting to the end of the spring storm chase season,
a two day event was in the making. My son Ryan
and I had been keeping an eye on the storm setup
leading up to this day. We decided in the
morning that the possibility of finding a Tornado
seemed quite good. The potential for a second
day in the same general area was a possibility as
well. The Storm Prediction Center had issued a
forecast of an Enhanced Risk of Severe Weather with
a 10% hatched area for Tornadoes.
We headed north
mid morning with a initial target city of
Ottumwa, Iowa. We drove up Highway 61
and took Highway 36 west, then north on
Highway 63. When we reached Kirksville,
Missouri, we stopped for lunch and checked the
current weather data to see if any alterations
were needed for our plan. After lunch,
we continued northward until we got to Highway
2 near Bloomfield, Iowa. We had a large
cell out to our west, but we began seeing
several individual storms intensifying to our
southwest.
We chose to
move back south to line ourselves up with
those cells. We took Highway 5 out
of Centerville, Iowa down to Unionville,
Missouri. The lead cell was now
Tornado warned as we got to
Unionville.
We drove just west of town on Highway 136
and found a spot to watch the approaching
back side of the storm. Almost
immediately after parking, the wall cloud
produces a Tornado.
As the Tornado moved closer to us, it
roped out and dissipated. We moved
back east to reposition east of
Unionville. We turned on Route 129
and found an open spot to watch the wall
cloud again. As it approached, there
was no visible funnel, but it wasn't long
before Tornado #2, a multi vortex Tornado,
was back on the ground and crossed Route
129 just to our north in front of us.
All of the
storms to the southwest were now tornado
warned as they were maximizing.
We
followed the lead storm east to
Kirksville, Missouri. Just as we
thought the Tornado potential was
beginning to fade, the storm gets
another Tornado warning with a confirmed
Tornado, but unfortunately, rain had
wrapped around the circulation ending
our chance to see another Tornado.
We
headed to Quincy, Illinois for the night
to get rested for day 2.
June
10, 2026
