Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1986

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Lincoln, IL

May 15, 1986Coles County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at May 15, 1986, 7:48 PM CDT for Coles County, Illinois. It was in force for 27 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 15, 1986, 7:48 PM CDT (00:48 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 1986, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Lincoln, IL
Area: Whole counties

County Coles County, IL

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Salem-Leckrone, IL (KSLO), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 113 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1239 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 892 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 192 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.9
Supercell composite: 5.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KSPI 160048
TORSPI
ILC029-160115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD IL
748 PM CDT THU MAY 15 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 815 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY OF

EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...COLES

AT 7 35 PM CDT CITY POLICE REPORTED A TORNADO ON GROUND IN
CHARLESTON MOVING NORTHEAST. DAMAGE HAS BEEN REPORTED.

IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES..GO TO A SAFE PLACE IMMEDIATELY..
AND YOU SHOULD ASK THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT TO RELAY YOUR SEVERE
WEATHER REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

 ATTN ISP DIST...10
 DAVIS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Lincoln, IL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 8:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Edgar	35 min
May 15, 8:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Edgar	32 min
May 16, 4:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Macoupin, Morgan	59 min
May 16, 5:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Macon, Sangamon	56 min
May 16, 5:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Macon, Sangamon	31 min
May 16, 5:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Champaign, Piatt	51 min
May 16, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Macon	56 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1986 Every tornado warning in 1986 Tornadoes in 1986

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.