Rochelle, IL After Chase Report
Lessons Learned From The Largest Tornado I’ve ever Seen
My journey to Rochelle IL started around 10am in Kalamazoo MI. I was targeting West Central Illinois. Before leaving Kalamazoo I gathered my supplies and looked over weather data and had some conversations with people on their thoughts on the system. Overall consensus that morning and around noon was that the system was likely not going to produce a significant severe weather event. However I was more interested in storm structure and not epic tornado shots and smashing up a windshield with hail.
Travels To Rochelle, IL
As I entered Illinois decided to stop, top off my gas tank and look at the latest weather data. I decided to target Peoria IL but check the data halfway there. I stopped in Dwight Illinois and decided to head to Ottawa as the storm were forming directly west and heading North East. Sitting in Ottawa would give me an easy play to the north and south with I39 and west with I80.
North or South?
I sat for about an hour and watched the storm heading to Rockford Illinois on radar which was tornado warned and had a history of producing a tornado. There was also a growing storm that was heading for Peoria but it was still 2 hours out. I decided to head an hour north to Rockford to intercept there.
I traveled through a field of several hundred wind generated electricity mills. Those windmills were wiping with the heavy winds. I was nearing half a tank of gas and decided that Rochelle would be a good place to top off on my way to Rockford. After I topped off my tank I looked at the radar and saw a storm west of Rochelle. I wanted to head west to the storm targeting Rockford, but was hesitant because I didn’t want to punch the core of this new storm and risk hail damage to my rental car. I decided I would wait just west of Rochelle for this storm to pass. I sat on the west side of Rochelle got out of the car and took a walk to get some blood flowing in my legs. I then got in the car again and noticed the storm to my west was starting to show a couplet on radar.
Make A Play
I decided to make a play for this storm just west of Rochelle as it was only a a bit to my west and wouldn’t put me too out of position to go north or south. I had trouble exiting the west side of town though as a roadway was closed with a train parked on the tracks near a rail yard. I had to go way south of Rochelle and then west. The rail yard had a large mound of dirt that blocked my view of the storm and it took around 5 minutes to get around. As I came around the train yard and headed north I saw a very evident rotating wall cloud just west of Rochelle. I sat and waited.
Tornado On The Ground
I was monitoring the local law enforcement on my scanner. There was just general chatter of the tornado warning but no reports of funnels or tornadoes. Law enforcement seemed to be treating this as just another tornado warning and going on answering criminal complaints. In about 5 minutes that would change. A funnel quickly started to appear and then it touched ground.
It started as a small rope tornado, as soon as I was sure the tornado was on the ground I quit taking pictures and video with my phone and used my phone to call 911.
The dispatcher immediately picked up and I told her there was a tornado on the ground just west of Rochelle. She asked for cross streets but I didn’t have any idea what street I was on. So I told her I was near the large rail yard and that anyone would be able to easily see it as in the time I was on with her it grew to a much larger stove pipe tornado.
Now A Stovepipe Tornado
The tornado increased in size rapidly as I was on the phone with 911 it was a stovepipe tornado and was still growing. The wall cloud was also becoming much more defined and the whole storm was not rotating. It was showing signs that this will be a devestating and scary tornado. This was now my first large tornado. Before this I have only seen rope tornadoes.
Will The Tornado Hit Rochelle
I knew I was just west of Rochelle IL and the tornado was now a large wedge tornado and growing. I become very concerned that the tornado would hit the town. I didn’t know how far north Rochelle extended, but knew it was a fairly large town as I just topped of my gas tank before heading west. I didn’t know about the town of Hillcrest IL bordering Rochelle to the north either.
I decided I would keep my distance from this storm. At the distance I was I could see large chunks of debris rotating around and I was sure there would be very large hail with this storm.
To follow the storm I had to go through Rochelle as North-South streets were limited. As I exited the town of Rochelle I came across some very large hail stones. I stopped and took a picture of the hail stones with some money in order to give a quick size comparison. These stones were the largest hail stones I have ever seen.
At this point I started coming across damaged homes and farms as well as Debris in the roadway. I took time to check and make sure people were okay when I came across a damaged or destroyed home and also stopped and removed debris from the roadway so emergency crews could quickly respond to the area. I also let a number of people use my cell phone to call loved ones and let them know they were okay.
It was now getting dark and emergency crews were now saturating the area and I decided it was time to start my three hour journey home. Cell phone reception was now significantly degraded so I just picked a direction and went that way and would keep going until I could get enough data to pull a map.
Grubsteakers Restaurant Hit, People Trapped
On my way out of the area I came across Grubsteakers restaurant. The restaurant was flattened and there were people trapped inside. News reports after indicated there were 12 people inside. I got caught in a small traffic jam near there for about 10 minutes as people stared and emergency services flooded the scene. I then made my way south from there.
News reports indicate that all 12 people survived. The sought shelter in the restaurants basement. It took emergency responders an hour and a half to free people from the restaurant’s basement.
I remember when I was there a lady ran up to me crying. She had a torn shirt on and no jacket. It was starting to rain again and I gave her the spare jacket I had in the back seat of my car and she used my cell phone to call a friend that lived a few blocks away.
‘I Think Someones Trapped!’
As I headed south from Grubsteakers I was flagged down several hundred yards south of Grubsteakers. He was screaming that he things someone was trapped. I could see two cars with their lights on that were thrown against a downed tree. He said his coworker lived there and he knew he was home. The tree landed on what was left of the house, which was just a foundation. The two vehicles were thrown into what used to be the house which was now covered by a tree.
Me and this guy made our way over and under some downed power lines to the house and found a third vehicle, a red pickup truck under the tree. At that time the evident odor of natural gas became very strong and I retreated to the roadway and flagged down a Illinois State Trooper making his way to Grubsteakers and let him know of the situation.
I left as the fire engine pulled up, I don’t know what happened to this guy. I assume he was found and was okay as the death reports were not from that area. But it still bothers me. I wonder if he did make it out okay or if he was truely home.
The Things That Stick In My Mind
There were quite a few things that stook in my mind. One was the picture above, the vehicles were thrown and everything was around was coated in thick layer of mud. The second was a stop sign that was ripped right out of the ground. But overall I was suprised how peaceful it was after the tornado went through. There was light rain, but the wind was dead calm.
I also remember the clouds after the tornado went through. How it looked as the sun set behind me. The clouds looked so peaceful. It was as if the sky was now taking a break after a long work out. I did know however that there was a tornado warned storm coming up from downwind however.
The biggest thing however was how beautiful but dangerous and deadly it was. There is no denying it, a tornado is indeed a very beautiful thing. But seeing what a tornado does after it has gone through is heart breaking. I was happy I caught a large tornado, but after I saw the damage I made quick post on Instagram showing my feelings.
Lessons Learned
I learned quite a bit of lessons with this storm, the biggest of which is know the names of the streets that you are located. When I called 911 I just knew I was just west of Rochelle.
Also never chase in compact car or a car without cruise control. I was stuck in a car without cruise control that was quite small. It was an uncomfortable ride, and I had to stop and move my legs a few times on the journey. Also small cars tend to not handle weather that well.
During the case I used a cell phone as my primary data source to my Macbook Pro as well as for taking video, audio and making phone calls. This isn’t a good idea and should be discouraged. I was however suprised by the great cell phone coverage I had almost the entire trip on Verizon.
April 9th
My maternal grandmother, Donna McCabe was born on April 9th 1934 and passed away on my birthday on April 28th 2008. In the third grade she took me to see my cousins show their animals at the Oakland County Michigan 4H fair. She took me over to a booth in a tent off on the edge of the fairgrounds where these two guys sat with a large metal can marked National Weather Service. It had all sorts electronic gizmos and gadgetry in it. It was an automated weather observation system. From that day I was hooked on weather. Without her making that introduction after seeing my interest in weather this chase would not of been possible, and I find it fitting that it happened on her birthday.
