December 31, 2010 – Illinois
It’s not often you get an opportunity to chase on New Year’s Eve, so I took a shot with this setup. I had just got back from Christmas with family in Iowa on the 28th and the forecast models and chatter was indicating a possible severe weather outbreak for the 31st. I kept my eye on it for the next two days and the only thing I was hesitant about was the amount of instability that would be available to the area I would most likely chase. This event presented two target areas, the first was the obvious one down along the Gulf Coast and Arklatex area where moisture return would be a piece of cake and the cold front would slam into the warm sector. The other was the triple point near the surface low which was going to be in eastern Iowa on the 31st.
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