The first tornado did NOT come from a wall cloud. The storm was just begining to take shape, when out of nowhere a rather pronounced clear slot came through the RFB (Rain Free Base) of the storm, allowing a small funnel, or possibly even a tornado (it appeared over a rather moist farm field, thus no debris was intially seen and the condesation funnel was not down...so we just call it an early funnel, although it could be debated if you want to get picky) to kick up. In a few minutes, debris was seen and a full blown tornado had formed (again, this came without a wall cloud or any visible low level features you might normally see before a tornado forms!!!). The strongest was a strong F3 that ripped through Cantrell, IL. This was the definitive tornado of the day and did the most damage, including going across I-55. Due to some problems with the Illinois River getting in our way, we were forced to go through some of the damage in Cantrell before getting back in chase mode. Once back in chasing mode, we captured a third tornado in Saybrook, IL. Here is a better view of the Saybrook tornado.

Other highlights included a nice LP storm near Lubbock, TX, a nighttime supercell near Amarillo which produced a tornado...that we could not possibly view, and various other storms thoughout Texas.

We caught a downburst on the very first day of chasing that was rather interesting, as well as instructive for the students.
Hole in the clouds picture
Plow winds and dust being kicked up from the ground

We also captured this fantastic supercell near Brownsville, TX.

The last trip was not an overall success, but we did get this nice picture of a distant strong/marginally severe squall line located in the Nebraska Panhandle region.