Indiana Storm Outbreak

Another exciting day chasing storms in Indiana with SWATchasers We headed down to southern Indiana and got on some really powerful supercell thunderstorms with rotating wall clouds. Chasing storms is a rush and I am very glad I was with the guys I was with to get us into the right places and keep us safe. We got into a scary few minutes when we got stuck right in the middle of a storm that produced a tornado, and had very strong winds and large hail pounding the car but came away unscathed.

Storm Chasing

I had the chance to tag along with a group of storm chasers and meteorologists from the newly formed Severe Weather Alert Team (SWAT) based in Indiana. Tuesday April 19 we headed for Illinois where the area looked great for a storm outbreak. As storm chasers from around the country descended on the area the weather models looked better and better. We chased the storms for about six hours getting caught in hail storms and battling the crappy Illinois back roads. We missed out on seeing a tornado but did see some great storms and funnel clouds. I'm excited to go back out when another round of severe weather hits the area. You can check out the SWAT website here: SWATchasers

Storm Damage

We get plenty of storms here in Muncie, Indiana but not many at this time of year.  This storm hit around 10:30 a.m. but no one knew about any damage, not even the emergency services, until around 1 p.m. At least one tornado touched down and damaged a few houses and uprooted a bunch of trees.


Storm Damage - Images by Chris Bergin