June 22nd 2018 | Central Illinois Funnel Clouds

A slow moving upper level low slowly spun over central Illinois on Friday, June 22nd. Unrelated to anything weather, I needed to pick my sister-in-law up from the airport early in the morning. Along the drive I witnessed several faint/whispy funnel clouds in the base of cumulus clouds along this boundary. It was clear that vorticity in the local environment was off the charts.

I picked the fam up from the airport and went back out. Why not?

I found a cloud base near White Heath that had significant rotation in it, set up the cameras and waited. What followed surprised even me, who was out there expecting funnel clouds. A well-defined circulation emerged, and a funnel cloud developed and reached toward the ground. After days of heavy rain, there was no way a very brief surface circulation would kick up any dust so I wasn't very hopeful about confirming any ground contact.

Following this funnel cloud, another whispy funnel was noted in a storm base just to the south. In all, five brief funnel clouds were observed in Piatt and McLean Counties.

The boundary in which I was focused on is highlighted in purple:

The larger White Heath funnel cloud emerges: