Unique Oshkosh Experience

[Kyle Boatright]

I'm a weather nut. Don't know why, but weather really fascinates me. This year's Oshkosh gave me the opportunity to see some really unusual stuff.

1) The frontal activity that came through Oshkosh Saturday and Sunday mornings was the fastest moving weather I've ever experienced. On both days, I saw the weather coming when it was far from the field, but within a very few minutes it was right on top of us.

2) Tornado. We left Oshkosh around noon (I guess - kinda lost track of time with the wind, rain, tent folding, etc. ), and were in the Aurora, Illinois area less than an hour later. We were 1,000 feet or so below the cloud bases, and had deviated west to avoid some ugly looking clouds. Just after we turned the corner around what appeared to be the worst of it a funnel cloud poked down out of the cloud I was using as a pylon. I'd guess it was 3-4 miles away and eventually dropped about 500' below the cloud base. I called the Aurora tower, and reported a funnel cloud about 5 miles west of the field. That really got their attention!

I was torn between getting the heck out of the area (although the ride was smooth and there were only a few shafts of rain), and digging the camera out of the back of the airplane. Common sense carried the day and I don't have any pictures.

The funnel only lived for a couple of minutes before retreating back into the clouds. It never came close to the ground. I let the tower know when it disappeared.

Once we were 10 miles or so south of Aurora, we left the ugly stuff behind and had a nice ride back to Atlanta. Well, other than a stop in Kankakee, where it was about 100F and 99% humidity on the ramp...

[Ironflight]

Sounds frightening!

I've got a neighbor who was flying a red-eye last night from Portland, Oregon to Newark - said that there was a line of weahehr north of Minneapolis like he had never seen before. His dispatcher said that the tops were up to 70K' (hard to believe!), and that there was continuous lightning for an hour...I think that must have been the line that later went through Wisconsin....

[n468ac]

Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

1) The frontal activity that came through Oshkosh Saturday and Sunday mornings was the fastest moving weather I've ever experienced. On both days, I saw the weather coming when it was far from the field, but within a very few minutes it was right on top of us.

2) Tornado. We left Oshkosh around noon (I guess - kinda lost track of time with the wind, rain, tent folding, etc. ), and were in the Aurora, Illinois area less than an hour later. We were 1,000 feet or so below the cloud bases, and had deviated west to avoid some ugly looking clouds. Just after we turned the corner around what appeared to be the worst of it a funnel cloud poked down out of the cloud I was using as a pylon. I'd guess it was 3-4 miles away and eventually dropped about 500' below the cloud base. I called the Aurora tower, and reported a funnel cloud about 5 miles west of the field. That really got their attention!

I was torn between getting the heck out of the area (although the ride was smooth and there were only a few shafts of rain), and digging the camera out of the back of the airplane. Common sense carried the day and I don't have any pictures.
..

Welcome to the Mississippi valley Weather around here seams to move very fast ... at lease faster than any other part of the country i've flowen to.