05/30 pics...

[pawlee]

what a night! WOW!!! just to the NNW of Macon county, a very powerful
supercell developed and dropped numerous funnels from Logan to
Champaign counties.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/events/may30.gif

we were in Clinton two hours before all hell broke loose, needless to say the LSR is a classic tonight...

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/events/lsr0530.txt

early on, i got an incredible view of the birth and ultimately the
maturation of this monster. at peak, the anvil was swirling above our
apartment located in N Central Decatur and Jami and i were awestruck
by the massive rotating structure before our eyes (even the flanking
line was drawing into the tower right overhead! unfortunately too
dark for pics.) even though i was up close to where i may have been
able to run the twisters down, (before heading in to watch from the
balcony), i wasn't about to head in to the center alone at twilight
seeing how massive this storm was. below are some pics i snapped off
from Hickory Point Road and then from my house. this night was BIGGER
than Wednesday... WAY BIGGER! p

development facing W on Hickory Point Rd. (8:20 PM)
http://pawleewurx.com/img/wxphto/0530034.jpg

more development on Hickory Pt. Rd. (8:35 PM)
http://pawleewurx.com/img/wxphto/053003.jpg

tower shot upon arriving home (facing NW) (8:45 PM)
http://pawleewurx.com/img/wxphto/0530032.jpg

lightning over Maroa (facing N) (9:?? PM)
http://pawleewurx.com/img/wxphto/0530033.JPG

(Lee Davis of WANDTV hit it on the head PERFECTLY in forecasting this one!)

[pawlee]

just came to find out how close we really were to the event. Jami and i were at Weldon Springs Park which is about one mile up from where the Texas Township building and other businesses were that got destroyed in the link below. we left Weldon Springs at around 7:00 PM and were going to get dinner in Clinton which would've put us at ground zero however i didn't bring enough cash so we went home to Decatur instead. although i read the NWS damage survey on another board, i still have to find the link but everything in that immediate area including the park was affected. it's kind of bittersweet in retrospect for although it would've sucked to be there as it was happening, i might've finally bagged a tornado. as i have mentioned on other boards, it was wierd at the park for although it was a beautiful day, we hardly saw any animals that we normally do (we do the two mile walk around the lake 2 to 3 times a month). it's as though the animals knew well in advance and had already sought shelter... p

http://www.herald-review.com/current/to ... pstory.php
(hopefully this link will still work after 05/31)

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing..........Glad to see your ok.....

[pawlee]

this will be my last post to this topic, just want to add that the NWS in Lincoln put together a damage survey page for those interested... thankfully no lives were lost.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/surveys/may302003/may30.htm

[pawlee]

ok, i lied... that wasn't my last message in this thread. have to add one more because yesterday, the NWSILX updated the May 30th event page with the addition of an amazing capture of one of the tornadoes... check it out!

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/surveys/may302003/may30.htm

[vbhoutex]

Paul, Thanks so much for the reports!!! WAY TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT!!!! GLAD YOU AND YOUR LADY ARE OK!!!!