Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 6, NWS St. Louis, MO

April 15, 1994Washington County, Illinois

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this tornado warning at Apr 15, 1994, 5:49 AM CDT for Washington County, Illinois. It was in force for 41 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Apr 15, 1994, 5:49 AM CDT (10:49 UTC)
Expired: Apr 15, 1994, 6:30 AM CDT
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Washington County, IL

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:52 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Paducah/Barkley, KY (KPAH), launched 00:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 156 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: 2422 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 115 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 KSTL 151053
TORSTL
ILC189-151130-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
549 AM CDT FRI APR 15 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS
 
   ...WASHINGTON COUNTY
 
AT 548 AM...RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING
THROUGH ST CLAIR AND RANDOLPH COUNTY ILLINOIS...ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTHEAST
OF ST LOUIS. A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS STILL SHOWING ON RADAR AND MAY MOVE
INTO WASHINGTON COUNTY ILLINOIS BETWEEN 600 AND 630 AM. THE TOWNS IN THE
PATH OF THESE STORMS ARE OKAWVILLE...OAKDALE AND STONE CHURCH.
 
DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO.  CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.  IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF
A TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING.  IF NO
STRUCTURE IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.
 
SHEA/MORSRE/RP

The office that day

Everything else NWS St. Louis, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 15, 5:04 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Monroe	41 min
Apr 15, 5:15 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Saint Clair	45 min
Apr 15, 5:26 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Bond, Madison	44 min
Apr 15, 5:37 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Randolph	53 min
Apr 15, 5:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Clinton	52 min
Apr 15, 5:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Perry	52 min
Apr 15, 6:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Effingham, Fayette	45 min
Apr 15, 6:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Marion	45 min
Apr 15, 6:31 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Jefferson	44 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.