Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Lincoln, IL

April 26, 1994Champaign County, Piatt County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at Apr 26, 1994, 10:11 PM CDT for Champaign County, Piatt County, Illinois. It was in force for 44 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 26, 1994, 10:11 PM CDT (03:11 UTC)
Expired: Apr 26, 1994, 10:55 PM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Lincoln, IL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Champaign County, IL, Piatt County, IL

The nearest sounding before it

Paducah/Barkley, KY (KPAH), launched 00:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 335 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: 2999 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1036 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 128 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 139 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.8
Supercell composite: 10.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSPI 270312 RRA
TORSPI
ILC039-147-019-270400-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD IL
1011 PM CDT TUE APR 26 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SPRINGFIELD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1100 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS
 
   ...EASTERN DE WITT COUNTY...NORTHERN PIATT COUNTY
 
IN EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS
 
   ...NORTHWESTERN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
 
AT 1008 PM CDT...DEWITT COUNTY ESDA REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD JUST SOUTH
OF CLINTON...20 MILES NORTH OF DECATUR. ALSO...THEY REPORTED LARGE HAIL.
 
 
AT 1010 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED AN AREA OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
EXTENDING FROM JUST NORTH OF DECATUR TO CLINTON.
 
THE STORMS WERE MOVING TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH AND WILL MOVE
THROUGH THE FOLLOWING TOWNS...CLINTON...MONTICELLO...FARMER CITY
...MAHOMET AND FISHER.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH
OF THIS TORNADOx...MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
POSSIBLE...AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH CUSHIONS OR PILLOWS.
 
BYRD

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, Apr 26, 4:17 PM CDT, 5 hours 54 minutes before

ILZ029-031-037-261720-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEORIA IL
1115 AM CDT TUE APR 26 1994

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER CENTRAL ILLINOIS...

AROUND 415 PM...SEVERAL THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED OVER CENTRAL
WOODFORD COUNTY AND NORTHERN PEORIA COUNTY. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM
WAS OVER ROANOKE IN CENTRAL WOODFORD COUNTY. SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS
AND HEAVY RAINS CAN BE EXPECTED AS THE STORMS MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST AT
50 MPH.

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION
THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY EVENING. THE
THREAT OF RAINFALL WILL THEN BE ENDING AROUND MID EVENING.

BREESER

Special weather statement, Apr 26, 4:23 PM CDT, 5 hours 48 minutes before

ILZ029-031-037-262230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...CORRECTION..
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PEORIA IL
420 PM CDT TUE APR 26 1994

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER CENTRAL ILLINOIS...

AROUND 415 PM...SEVERAL THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED OVER CENTRAL
WOODFORD COUNTY AND NORTHERN PEORIA COUNTY. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORM
WAS OVER ROANOKE IN CENTRAL WOODFORD COUNTY. SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS
AND HEAVY RAINS CAN BE EXPECTED AS THE STORMS MOVE TO THE NORTHEAST AT
50 MPH.

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION
THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND INTO EARLY EVENING. THE
THREAT OF RAINFALL WILL THEN BE ENDING AROUND MID EVENING.

BREESER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 26, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian	44 min
Apr 26, 7:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	McLean, Tazewell, Woodford	42 min
Apr 26, 7:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Macon	54 min
Apr 26, 7:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian	30 min
Apr 26, 7:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Macon, Shelby	38 min
Apr 26, 8:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Christian	19 min
Apr 26, 8:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Macon, Moultrie, Shelby	47 min
Apr 26, 8:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Macoupin, Montgomery	61 min
Apr 26, 9:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	McLean	41 min
Apr 26, 9:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Coles, Douglas, Moultrie	52 min
Apr 26, 9:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian, Macon, Sangamon	41 min
Apr 26, 9:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Douglas	38 min
Apr 26, 10:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	DeWitt	44 min
Apr 26, 10:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Montgomery	34 min
Apr 26, 10:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Edgar, Vermilion	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1994 Every tornado warning in 1994 Tornadoes in 1994

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.