Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Lincoln, IL

May 25, 1989Sangamon County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1989, 6:04 PM CDT for Sangamon County, Illinois. It was in force for 26 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 25, 1989, 6:04 PM CDT (23:04 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1989, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 26 min
Issued by: NWS Lincoln, IL
Area: Whole counties

County Sangamon 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, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 102 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: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -743 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1108 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSPI 252304
TORSPI
ILC167-252330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD IL
604 PM CDT THU MAY 25 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE CENTRAL PART OF ILLINOIS
      SANGAMON

AT 600PM CDT...SANGAMON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE RELAYED A REPORT
OF A TORNADO ON THE GROUND 2 MILES NORTH OF SALISBURY...10 MILES
NORTHWEST OF SPRINGFIELD.

THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

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...9
 WAGNER

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, May 25, 3:11 PM CDT, 2 hours 53 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD IL
310 PM CDT THU MAY 25 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN SANGAMON COUNTY...

AT 3 05 PM CDT WEATHER SERVICE RADARS SHOWS A LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORM GENERALLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM NEAR BURLINGTON IOWA
TO DANVILLE ILLINOIS.

AT 256 PM CDT PEA-SIZE HAIL AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL WAS RECEIVED HERE
AT THE CAPITOL AIRPORT.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WAS MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN REPORTED THE THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
OFFICE IN SPRINGFIELD DURING THE PAST HOUR.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS UNTIL
10 PM CDT.

HILLIARD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 24, 11:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Warren	35 min
May 25, 1:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Macon, Sangamon	30 min
May 25, 1:54 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Sangamon	36 min
May 25, 2:38 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Logan	37 min
May 25, 3:11 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Champaign, Douglas, Piatt	34 min
May 25, 11:23 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian, Macon, Shelby	67 min
May 25, 1:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Macoupin, Morgan	42 min
May 25, 1:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian, Montgomery, Sangamon	64 min
May 25, 2:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Shelby	63 min
May 25, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Coles, Douglas, Edgar	61 min
May 25, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Edgar	30 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.