Targeted just west of Decatur, IL for afternoon supercells intercepting tornado warned cell a few southwest of Decatur. Storm was heavily rain wrapped. Pursued toward I-57 before ending chase.

Crew and Equipment

Solo chase. Equipment: Sony AX100, Canon 60D with EFS 10-22, Samsung S25 Ultra.

Video

Map

Details

Waiting
2 miles SSW of Illiopolis, IL
12:07 PM

had yet to catch a tornado for the year with mere days remaining in 2025. It's a little silly, but I didn't feel like a real storm chaser because of it. This was pretty much my last possible chance, and I wasn't too optimistic about my chances. Still the potential was there. My initial target was the Decatur area and I setup in my usual spotting location just south of Illiopolis to monitor the sky.

Gas Stop

1:18 PM

Initiation
2 miles SSW of Illiopolis, IL
1:48 PM

My target cell fired and was tracking right toward me, so far so good.

Tornado Warned
1 mile1 W of Boody, IL
3:51 PM

I let the cell approach, but it looked like it still needed a bit of time to mature, so I started moving east to keep ahead of it. My phone went off for a tornado warning, however, so I turned around and dropped south to get into viewing position. Looking down what should have been the notch, all I could really see was murk on a super low contrast rear flank. I stair stepped toward Decatur but was starting to get slowed down by the urban sprawl. Chaser traffic was also markedly building. I opted out of core punching the RFD for what would only amount to a low contrast view of a rainy circulation, and thus had no view of the tornado embedded inside of the HP supercell. The cell merged with a developing line which I tracked to I-57 before calling the chase.

Drive Home
2 miles N of Cadwell, IL
4:27 PM

Pretty sunset colors and cloud banks in the wake of the line on the drive home, easily the prettiest part of the entire chase.

Conclusion

It was a crappy tornado, but once again I was close with no view, capping off my worst chase year, and the first year I'd strike out for tornadoes since I saw my first in 2004. It was years in the making, but I think this was my last desperate attempt to cling to my identity of “tornado chaser”. That’s pretty much gone now. I’ll continue to chase storms, but going out there just to get a tornado isn’t really a motivation for me anymore. I’ve already done that, so now what? I’ll find meaning and joy in other ways.

Lessons Learned

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