Chase - 10/18 Tornado Outbreak

Ben has pictures up on his website of the funnel cloud(s) he saw near Fulton, Indiana earlier in the day.

Here are radar grabs and the approximate location of Ben during the chase:

5:52 PM Click for larger image	6:10 PM Click for larger image
6:13 PM Click for larger image	6:22 PM Click for larger image

11:05 PM
Lansing, MI area is under the gun again... Tornado Warnings for Jackson and Ingham Counties. Siren in Williamston still works and is going off according to SevereStudios chaser Ben Holcomb.

10:00 PM
Tornado touchdown east of Lansing, MI... near Williamston. Ben is on his way to check it out!

8:30 PM
Tornado Watches continue with almost 40 WARNINGS (SVR and TOR) in effect. Latest MD's spell night time trouble for the MDT Risk area:

"...THREAT FOR TORNADOES AS WELL AS PARTICULARLY DAMAGING WIND GUSTS HAS BECOME HIGH FROM SRN MI SWD. SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS MAIN SURFACE DRYLINE/WIND SHIFT WELL TO THE WEST OVER WRN IL AND MO...WITH NUMEROUS STORMS TO THE E IN THE WARM SECTOR. SHEAR PROFILES ARE EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG...WITH 0-6 KM SHEAR OF 70-80 KNOTS AND 0-1 SHEAR IN EXCESS OF 30 KT. PRIMARY STORM MODE IS THUS EXPECTED TO REMAIN SUPERCELLULAR WITH A THREAT OF TORNADOES...POSSIBLY STRONG...AND VERY STRONG WIND GUSTS.

Tornado Watches (shaded)
TOR Warnings in Pink
Click for Larger Image

7:25 PM
Ben saw a couple funnels around Fulton, IN. We may have pics up later.

In the mean time, half the states of Illinois and Kentucky are under a Tornado Warning!

6:15 PM
Ben is just north of Logansport w/ TOR-warned cell... lots of rotation... no tornado yet!

5:30 PM
Ben is nearing Rochester, IN. Severe T-Storm warning just to his southwest with a couple other cells that could become severe soon. Another update in a few minutes....

4:36 PM
Ben is in South Bend, IN. Storms to his west are struggling... better stuff just crossing the IL/IN border southwest of Lafayette. Will head a little south.

3:46 PM
Tornado Watch issued for Illinois, Indiana, and lower Michigan. Cell forming near Valparaiso, IN. Ben is driving west on I-80 toward the area.

3:15 PM
From Northern Indiana NWS:
"...DANGEROUS SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK APPEARS IMMINENT ACROSS EASTERN/CENTRAL IL AND NORTHWEST INDIANA... IN RESPONSE TO ROBUST SURFACE DESTABILIZATION THAT HAD OCCURRED WITHIN DRYSLOT OF DEPARTING LEAD WAVE AND ENHANCED BY SIGNIFICANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE RETURN OUT OF THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. ALL THIS COMBINED W/DRAMATIC DEEP LAYER SHEAR...MID LEVEL WIND MAX ~ 120 KTS...AND [SURFACE WINDS] BACKING... SUGGESTS EXTREME HIGH END DAMAGING WIND EVENT W/POSSIBILITY OF LONG LIVED SIGNIFICANT TORNADOES LATE THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING ONCE STORMS GET GOING.

2:41 PM
Ben Holcomb is on his way toward Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, IN. We'll pass along anything he sees today.

There are Mesoscale Discussions (MD's) out for that area, with watches possible soon. Supercells with tornadoes are possible. Check back for updates!