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Photos from Tornado Footage
captured by local storm interceptors

Jacksonville, IL Springfield, IL Monticello, IL

Dr. Bruce Lee, Dr. Brian Jewett and their team of storm interceptors departed the University of Illinois (Urbana, IL) at 1:30 PM CDT. Several hours later (5:00 PM), the group made its first visual contact with potential target storms on Highway 67 approximately 15 miles northwest of Jacksonville, IL.

For more than 3 hours and 140 miles, the interceptors pursued a tornadic supercell along US HW 36 and I-72, back towards Urbana. The expedition concluded at 8:20 PM when the group learned that a tornado (of the same supercell) may have tracked dangerously close to their own homes.

By nightfall, four separate tornado touchdowns were observed in or near the cities of Jacksonville, Springfield, Decatur and Monticello, IL. With cam-corders at their sides, the interceptors caught three of the twisters on video. This section contains some images captured from the tornado footage, plus commentary provided by one of the group leaders, Dr. Bruce Lee.


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Credits and Acknowledgments for WW2010.
Department of Atmospheric Sciences (DAS) at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.