Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Chicago, IL

July 17, 1996Kankakee County, Illinois

NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at Jul 17, 1996, 6:58 PM CDT for Kankakee County, Illinois. It was in force for 47 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, 6:58 PM CDT (23:58 UTC)
Expired
Jul 17, 1996, 7:45 PM CDT
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS Chicago, IL
Area
Whole counties

County Kankakee County, IL

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:02 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

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 12.0 hours before the alert went out and 126 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 1996-07-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1237 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 1996-07-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 7 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1237 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
902 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
22 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 KCHI 172359
TORCHI
ILC091-180045-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
658 PM CDT WED JUL 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  745 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS
 
   ...EASTERN KANKAKEE COUNTY
 
AT 655 PM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE
TORNADO NEAR MANTENO...8 MILES NORTH OF KANKAKREE. THE STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THE STORM ARE ST
GEORGE...GRANT PARK AND MOMENCE.
 
GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!
 
ALLSOPP

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 17, 3:35 PM CDTTornado WarningLOTCook, Will25 min
Jul 17, 4:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTLaSalle50 min
Jul 17, 5:10 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLOTCook2 hr
Jul 17, 5:38 PM CDTTornado WarningLOTWill37 min
Jul 17, 6:14 PM CDTTornado WarningLOTKankakee, Will31 min

Nearby

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