Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Quad Cities, IA

July 17, 1996Whiteside County, Illinois

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at Jul 17, 1996, 9:10 PM CDT for Whiteside County, Illinois. It was in force for 65 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 17, 1996, 9:10 PM CDT (02:10 UTC)
Expired: Jul 17, 1996, 10:15 PM CDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Whiteside County, IL

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:09 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

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 51 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: 3433 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -14 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 603 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 327 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 584 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 6.3
Supercell composite: 35.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMLI 180212
TORMLI
ILC195-180315-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
910 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN QUAD CITIES IA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHWEST ILLINOIS
 
   ...WHITESIDE COUNTY
 
AT 909 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 5 MILES SOUTH OF COLETA.
SPOTTERS CONFIRM THAT A TORNADO DID TOUCHDpOWN BRIEFLY 1 1/2 WEST OF
COLETA BUT HAS LIFTED.
 
PERSONS IN EMERSON... GALT... AND THE CITIES OF STERLING/ROCK FALLS
SHOULD TAKE COVER NOW!
 
 
GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!
 
 
HIRSCH
&

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.

NWS Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jul 17, 7:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 7:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
745 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

23Z MAPS SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS BROAD TROUGH ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS
WITH THE LOW PROGGED TO DEVELOP ACROSS CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA.  STORMS
CONTINUE TO FIRE ALONG THE WARM FRONT ACROSS CENTRAL IOWA INTO NORTHERN
ILLINOIS... IN AN AREA OF STRONG THETAE CONVERGENCE.

JET DYNAMICS NOT ALL THAT IMPRESSIVE ON THE NGM AND POINTS WELL NORTH
OF THE AREA.  TRAJECTORY MODELS SHOW STRONG WARM AIR ADVECTION AND THIS
SHOULD PUSH THE WARM FRONT NORTH INTO WISCONSIN.  BEST K AND LI NUMBERS
AND VERTICAL VELOCITIES ALSO POINT NORTH ACROSS MINNESOTA.  LOW-LEVEL
JET NOT YET SHOWING UP ON THE PROFILERS.

BELIEVE THAT HOPE OF THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT TIED TO MCS OUTFLOW BOUNDARY
PUSHING ACROSS THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE AREA.  FRONTAL LOCATION
SHOULD INHIBIT THUNDERSTORMS MUCH SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 20.

REAL WARM AIR BEHIND THE FRONT AND SO TROPICAL FWC TEMPERATURES LOOK
GOOD.

CID 072/20    DBQ 070/30    MLI 075/20    BRL 075/10

HIRSCH

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 17, 4:13 PM CDT, 4 hours 57 minutes before

ILZ007-009-016>018-180300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
413 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 10 PM FOR PARTS OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS...

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR
THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN NORTHWEST ILLINOIS...
     CARROLL...WHITESIDE...AND HENRY

IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...
     BUREAU AND PUTNAM

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL COMMERCIAL RADIO OR
TV STATION FOR FURTHER UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

BOEHMKE

Local storm report, Jul 17, 6:47 PM CDT, 2 hours 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
643 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....   ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
DATE(CDT)  ....COUNTY LOCATION....

$0643 PM    COUNTY WIDE               IL   HEAVY RAIN
07/17/96   BUREAU                         30-40 MPH WINDS/WATER ON ROADS
                                          1/2" PRINCETON 1.50" WALNUT

HIRSCH

Local storm report, Jul 17, 7:38 PM CDT, 1 hour 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
730 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....   ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
DATE(CDT)  ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0615 PM    ERN HALF OF COUNTY        IL   WIND DAMAGE
07/17/96   BUREAU                         NUMEROUS LARGE TREES DOWN

0645 PM    ERN PTN OF COUNTY         IL   FLOODING
07/17/96   BUREAU                         NUMEROUS ROADS UNDER 2-3 FEET:
                                          OF WATER -- ONE WASHOUT

Special weather statement, Jul 17, 8:01 PM CDT, 1 hour 9 minutes before

ILZ017-180345-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
800 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

...SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT FOR BUREAU COUNTY...

A SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY CONTINUES IN EFFECT THIS EVENING FOR
BUREAU COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS.  THE BUREAU COUNTY SHERIFF
REPORTED THAT NUMEROUS ROADS WERE UNDER TWO TO THREE FEET OF WATER
IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE COUNTY BETWEEN 630 PM AND 700 PM
THIS EVENING.

THE WATER HAS BEGUN TO RECEDE...BUT ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WITH
HEAVY RAIN ARE EXPECTED TO RE-ENTER THE EASTERN PART OF THE COUNTY
BY 900 PM THIS EVENING.

PERSONS NEAR CREEKS AND OTHER LOW-LYING AREAS ARE URGED TO STAY ALERT
FOR RISING WATER.  BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF A FLASH
FLOOD WARNING IS ISSUED. DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS
THE ROAD.

BOEHMKE

Local storm report, Jul 17, 9:08 PM CDT, 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
905 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....   ST   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
DATE(CDT)  ....COUNTY LOCATION....

X0859 PM    4 W COLETA                IL   0.75 INCH HAIL
07/17/96   WHITESIDE

CORONA

The office that day

Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 17, 8:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Carroll	55 min
Jul 17, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Whiteside	59 min
Jul 17, 8:56 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DVN	Carroll, Whiteside	6 hr
Jul 18, 1:01 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DVN	Stephenson	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes in 1996

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.