Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Lincoln, IL

April 11, 1987Champaign County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at Apr 11, 1987, 4:42 PM CDT for Champaign County, Illinois. It was in force for 33 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Apr 11, 1987, 4:42 PM CDT (21:42 UTC)
Expired: Apr 11, 1987, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Lincoln, IL
Area: Whole counties

County Champaign County, IL

The radar

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

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 11, 4:46 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Champaign, IL

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Peoria Regional, IL (KPIA), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 132 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1952 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 116 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSPI 112142
TORSPI
ILC115-147-019-112215-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD IL
442 PM CDT SAT APR 11 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 515 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

CENTRAL ILLINOIS...MACON...SOUTHERN PIATT AND CHAMPAIGN

NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TORNADOES BEING REPORTED IN MACON...SOUTHERN
PIATT AND CHAMPAIGN COUNTIES. THE TORNADOES WERE MOVING TOWARD THE
NORTHEAST.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...YOU SHOULD GO TO A
BASEMENT SHELTER IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE GO TO A CENTRAL INTERIOR
ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE. ABANDON CARS AND MOBIL HxOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING.

 ATTN ISP DIST...10

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 11, 3:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Peoria, Woodford	69 min
Apr 11, 4:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Piatt	55 min
Apr 11, 4:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Logan	33 min
Apr 11, 4:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Macon, Piatt	33 min
Apr 11, 5:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Champaign, Piatt	35 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1987 Every tornado warning in 1987 Tornadoes in 1987

Sources

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