Divernon Tornado Rewatch

July 15th, 2020 presented a classic Midwestern summertime severe storm risk with a hot and muggy environment ready to pop ahead of a shortwave enhanced MCV.

This chase day tested our patience as storms quickly organized and became tornadic, only to become a rainy mess just as fast. We stuck with our initial storm as it approached the Farmersville - Divernon area near Interstate 55 south of Springfield and the storm rapidly got its act back together and produced one of my favorite tornadoes ever.

The Divernon IL tornado went down as an EF-0 tornado that churned through open corn fields for its entire life, but the wild motion and surprisingly fast development made it a fascinating, and memorable tornado experience.

This new video style is part of my storm-chasing collection where I revisit significant tornadoes and narrate them from a meteorologist’s perspective, combining chase footage, real-time thought process, and educational context.