March 14, 2025 | Chasing Ghosts in Missouri
- GK Naill
- Mar 14, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: 8 hours ago
On March 14, 2025, the SPC issued a tornado-driven Moderate (4/5) risk, with widespread, strong tornadoes likely throughout Missouri. They also issued a hatched 15% tornado risk for EF2+ strength tornadoes. These storms would be embedded in a high-precipitation (HP) supercell within a QLCS system at night. In other words, tornadoes embedded in a wall of strong storms spanning across states, racing towards you at highway speeds.
Day 1 Convective Outlook Day 1 Tornado Outlook
We couldn't decide whether to target the Missouri area, with stronger tornadoes, or the cold-core setup in Iowa, which gives earlier, more isolated storms. We eventually decided on Iowa, so we left at 8 PM to get to Omaha at 3 AM for the night. On the way up, we stopped off the side of the interstate to capture the lunar eclipse that night.
When we got to the hotel, my first thought was, "Wow, this hotel is trying too hard to be hip with the kids."
When we woke up in the morning, we checked the models and found that the Iowa setup had completely fallen apart, so we had to switch targets to Missouri (we headed down there after a quick coffee break).
While driving down, the SPC issued the 3rd Day 2 High Risk in history (source). March 15 was looking to be historic, and we were planning to chase that day; however, it was going to be a test of our comfort, and we needed to have enough time (and sleep).
St. Louis Metro Area
We drove for 5 hours and finally reached the St Louis area. We stopped at a Burger King for a quick dinner break as a storm organized to our south of us. We were originally going to target it until it was absorbed into the rest of the line, so we worked on cutting through a less-intense area to get in front of the line.
We were working on making our way into St. Louis, Missouri, when we saw another embedded supercell developing to our south on radar. However, we weren't in its path (yet), so we kept driving.
Once we got through Chesterfield, we saw rotation go through behind us. At the time, we didn't realize a tornado was on the ground, so we didn't end up getting anything of it (or so we thought).
We then entered the forward flank of another storm around 9:30 PM, with blinding rain and straight lines. Once it calmed down, we noticed another supercell to our south, and we realized we were likely in the path of the rotation. At the moment, it didn't appear there was a tornado on the ground, until...
We saw a massive barrage of power flashes to our south and realized there was a tornado on the ground... and we were in the path. We sped up to try to get out of its path (it's either that or we hook slice it, which also doesn't sound fun). The storm was coming towards us at highway speeds.
We watched on radar as the storm slowly drew closer and closer to us. Straight lines were ripping across the road, trying to pull us off with it. After what felt like forever, we finally got out of its path, and we started going south down IL-3.
The Arnold, MO tornado was rated an EF-2.
Our main plan at this point, now that we were in front of the line, was to figure out how to get out of the path. Eventually we drove into Columbia, IL. We were trying to figure out where we were planning on going. We pulled up to a light, and just as we stopped, the tornado sirens started blaring, and at the same time the power began to flicker. Perfect timing. We then continue south.
It's around 11 PM. We pull off in a little off-area once we are mostly out of the line, and we see some storms, but they didn't look too crazy. We then book our hotel in Cape Girardeau, around an hour to our south. We were going to arrive at around midnight, with enough time to spare to chase the next day.
THE MISSING FOOTAGE
Around 9 months after the chase, there was a piece of footage that just didn't fit in anywhere else. It was from the day, but the timing wasn't right. The attached time on the footage matched the time we were on the forward flank of the Arnold tornado. The times on the other cameras matched up with our location at the time, so they weren't wrong. I went in to try to find where that footage fits, and after hours of scouring my footage, I found it: right before the Chesterfield tornado. That camera was filming to the south, right around when the Chesterfield tornado was developing. We potentially caught the Chesterfield tornado before it touched down.
PERRYVILLE/CHESTER
We started driving south to our hotel. It's 11:30 PM. On our way down, we found a cute little town, and I thought the chase was over, so while getting gas, I took down the cameras (learned my lesson). I found that picture online of a pickle spelled "picl" on a menu, and I guess that image is cursed.
We continued driving south, so we had to cross the Mississippi River near Chester, Illinois, heading towards Perryville, Missouri. Once we got onto the other side, near McBride, the rain suddenly turned into a downpour. The storms to our south suddenly exploded over us (half shocked we didn't anticipate that on a day with an atmosphere as volatile as it was—we probably were just worn out after dealing with the squall). We could barely see the road in front of us.
Fairly quickly, the rain stopped looking like a downpour and started looking like RFD curtains. A circulation was likely developing almost right on top of us. Then, we saw on radar that a tornado was on the ground in Perryville. With all of this happening in quick succession, we decided to turn around and head back towards Chester. We could not tell where we were on the road, and we almost went into a deep ditch once. After some driving, we found a place to pull off and take a break.
Once we pulled in, massive sticks of dynamite appeared in our field of view! We pulled into a fireworks store (or shed?)... to take shelter from a storm with lightning. We decided to keep going for obvious reasons.
Eventually, we made it back to Chester, and the power was out. We eventually found a place to pull into; we had no clue where we were, and there was a "No Trespassing" sign. The wind had a very eerie howl.
Looking at radar, the tornado in Perryville was heading towards us. There is also a smaller storm closer to us, and it appears to have a small circulation. Inside the video (yes, I checked the white balance), around the 34-second mark, it looks like there could've been a power flash.
After driving north, we came across a McDonald's and took a break in their parking lot. A worker came out asking us if we were okay (did we look high or something?). We then headed back south on the same route. The power was back, and we drove through Perryville after the EF2. We couldn't see much damage, but it was also past midnight.
On our way down, storms were heading right for Cape Girardeau. Thankfully, they passed before we arrived, and our hotel was still there.
MARCH 15
We woke up, running on only 5 hours of sleep. We decided to make a plan, where we would try to catch them early on in the Delta (but we woke up too late to make it in time). So, we stayed in Memphis, TN, then got a hotel in Little Rock, AK. I thought that the earlier hotels were trying too hard to be hip with the kids. This hotel's motto was "Stay Sassy!" and the bathroom had NO privacy. Also, flushing the toilet sounded like you were opening the gates of hell.
In total, the March 14-15 Outbreak produced 118 tornadoes, and it was the largest outbreak on record in the month of March. We drove nearly 2,560 miles (200 miles shy of driving from LA to NYC!), saw 1 tornado, and got chased by 3. This storm chase was one of the most chaotic chases I've been on, but it was also one of the most fun.
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