Storm Photos from West-Central Illinois!

Mike Sandstrom, Photographer

Besides having an interest in rock and minerals, I am also an avid weatherwatcher. I am currently a skywatcher for KWQC-TV6 in Davenport, Iowa, where I send the conditions in every day to be put on the air. Whenever thunderstorms are in our area, I am always outside taking pictures of them in all their power. Below you will see some of these pictures. There isn't much now, but if thunderstorms are in the area, you can bet that more will be put up! Pictures may not be reproduced without my permission. All rights reserved.

***Most recent additions: April 9th, 2001***

This storm photo above was taken on April 9th, 2001, at approximately 5:00PM CDT from our property located just north of Roseville, Illinois, looking to the northeast. This storm is located over southern Henry County at this time producing golf ball sized hail, and later produced a Tornado Warning in Stark County, Illinois.

This storm photo above was taken on April 9th, 2001, at approximately 6:15PM CDT looking east from our property north of Roseville, Illinois. This storm was currently over the west central part of Knox County, Illinois. This storm produced heavy rain and frequent cloud to ground lightning.

Storm Photo #1- This is a picture of an anvil of a thunderstorm that was producing heavy rain and frequent lightning over the Keokuk, Iowa area (about 60 miles away) as seen from our front yard just north of Roseville, IL. This was taken in April 2000.

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Storm Photo #2- This picture is a storm just getting itself underway and organized. This is looking north from our property north of Roseville, IL, on June 12, 2000. Once mature, these storms formed into a very nice linear setup, with storms stretching from Ottumwa, Iowa to north of Peoria, Illinois. The storms dropped 2.5" of rain in about 20 minutes in Monmouth, Illinois, just north of us about 8 miles, resulting in urban/small stream flood advisories. See next photo for nice cumulonibus peak taking shape:

View is looking to the northwest of our location north of Roseville, IL. Note the classic shape of the peak, still growing. This and other cloud tops reached up to 50,000 feet that evening (June 12).

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Storm Photo #3- This thunderstorm was found to our southwest on the early evening of July 2, 2000. The peak seen here is just west of Hannibal, MO, about 75 miles to our southwest. This storm produced heavy rain and frequent lightning. Note the cirrus clouds above and to the right of the cloud tops. These cirrus are blow-offs of a line of strong to occasionally severe storms to the north. The line stretched from south-central Nebraska all the way to Kenosha, Wisconsin. The storms produced very heavy rain, sometimes as much as an inch and a half in 10-15 minutes, 60 mph winds, and small hail (pea sized) north of the Quad Cities IA/IL, and points west and east.

More pictures as soon as we get more storms!!!