Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 17, NWS Lincoln, IL

September 8, 1989Champaign County, Piatt County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at Sep 8, 1989, 4:47 PM CDT for Champaign County, Piatt County, Illinois. It was in force for 28 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Sep 8, 1989, 4:47 PM CDT (21:47 UTC)
Expired: Sep 8, 1989, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 28 min
Issued by: NWS Lincoln, IL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Champaign County, IL, Piatt 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

Peoria Regional, IL (KPIA), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 122 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: 1787 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -54 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 577 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 101 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSPI 082150 COR
TORSPI
ILC147-019-082215-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD IL
447 PM CDT FRI SEP 8 1989

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

   IN THE CENTRAL PART OF ILLINOIS
      PIATT...

   IN THE EAST CENTRAL PART OF ILLINOIS
      CHAMPAIGN...

AT 430 PM CDT...A TORNADO TOUCHDOWN WAS REPORTED BY THE PIATT
COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT IN MONTICELLO ILLINOIS WHICH IS 60 MILES
NORTHEAST OF SPRINGFIELD IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS.
THE TORNADO WAS MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

TOWNS AND CITIES IN AND NEAR THE PATH OF THE TORNADO ARE
MONTICELLO AND CHAMPAIGN..URBANA ILLINOIS.

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

 ATTN ISP DIST 10
 PALMER

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 8, 1:02 PM CDT, 3 hours 45 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEORIA IL
105 PM CDT FRI SEP 8 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING MOVING INTO
CENTRAL ILLINOIS...

AT 100 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FROM ROCKFORD SOUTH TO JUST WEST OF PEORIA
TO QUINCY.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS CONTAIN HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS AND
DANGEROUS GROUND STROKES OF LIGHTNING.

THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

RECENT RAIN OVER CENTRAL ILLINOIS HAS SATURATED THE GROUND.  ADDITIONAL
HEAVY RAIN MAY CAUSE LOW-LAND FLOODING AND PONDING OF WATER ON
ROADWAYS...SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT.

ATTN ISP DIST...7..8..14..17

J LAST

Special weather statement, Sep 8, 2:04 PM CDT, 2 hours 43 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEORIA IL
205 PM CDT FRI SEP 8 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN CONTINUE TO MOVE THROUGH CENTRAL
ILLINOIS...

AT 200 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FROM LASALLE ILLINOIS...50 MILES NORTHEAST
OF PEORIA TO QUINCY.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS CONTAIN HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY
WINDS AND DANGEROUS GROUND STROKES OF LIGHTNING.

THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

AUGUSTA ILLINOIS...IN SOUTHEAST HANCOCK COUNTY...RECEIVED 1.53 INCHES OF
RAIN IN ONE HOUR JUST AFTER NOON.  THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE
AT PEORIA RECEIVED 0.25 INCHES OF RAIN IN 20 MINUTES...WITH HEAVY RAIN
STILL FALLING.  FLOODING OF LOW-LYING AREAS AND PONDING OF WATER ON
ROADWAYS IS LIKELY...SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT.

J LAST

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 8, 3:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Logan, Macon	35 min
Sep 8, 3:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Macon, Piatt	37 min
Sep 8, 5:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Champaign, Vermilion	41 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1989 Every tornado warning in 1989 Tornadoes in 1989

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.