Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 241, NWS St. Louis, MO

October 17, 1996Fayette County, Illinois

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 17, 1996, 5:56 PM CDT for Fayette County, Illinois. It was in force for 34 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Oct 17, 1996, 5:56 PM CDT (22:56 UTC)
Expired: Oct 17, 1996, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Fayette County, IL

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 131 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:00 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 17, 6:10 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 55	Vandalia, IL

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 133 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: 8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -442 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1191 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 203 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 185 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 172257
SVRSTL
ILC051-172330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
556 PM CDT THU OCT 17 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS
 
   ...FAYETTE COUNTY
 
TOWNS IN THE PATH INCLUDE HAGARSTOWN...VANDALIA... RAMSEY.
 
NWS RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM NEAR MULBERRY
GROVE TO NEAR CARLYLE LAKE...MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
 
THESE STORMS HAVE A HISTORY OF WIND DAMAGE AND HAIL FROM 3/4 TO 1 3/4
INCH IN DIAMETER.  WIND GUSTS OF 60 TO 65 MPH ARE EXPECTED.
 
JPK

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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, Oct 17, 4:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 41 minutes before

ILZ096>099-MOZ036-049-051-052-059>062-172145-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
412 PM CDT THU OCT 17 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR SOME PARTS OF
EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI AND EXTREME WESTERN ILLINOIS...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR A FEW COUNTIES IN
EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI AND EXTREME WESTERN ILLINOIS.  THE COLD FRONT
THAT PRODUCED THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT HAS NOW PASSED THROUGH THESE
AREAS.

IN MISSOURI...THE COUNTIES OF OSAGE....PIKE...MONTGOMERY...
GASCONADE...LINCOLN ..WARREN...FRANKLIN...AND ST CHARLES ARE NO LONGER
IN THE WATCH.  IN ILLINOIS...BROWN...PIKE...CALHOUN...AND JERSEY
COUNTIES ARE CLEARED.

TRUETT

Local storm report, Oct 17, 4:48 PM CDT, 1 hour 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS
445 PM CDT THU OCT 17 1996

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0308 PM    CUBA                      MO   .75 INCH HAIL
10/17/96   CRAWFORD

0310 PM    CUBA                      MO   .75 INCH HAIL
10/17/96   CRAWFORD                       JUST NORTH OF CUBA

0412 PM    HILLSBORO                 MO   1 INCH HAIL
10/17/9,6   JEFFERSON

0430 PM    PEAVLEY                   MO   .75 INCH HAIL
10/17/96   JEFFERSON

Special weather statement, Oct 17, 5:45 PM CDT, 11 minutes before

ILZ058-059-MOZ063-064-072-172330-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
540 PM CDT THU OCT 17 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR SOME PARTS OF
EASTERN MISSOURI AND EXTREME WESTERN ILLINOIS...

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR A FEW MORE
COUNTIES IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI AND EXTREME WESTERN ILLINOIS.
THE COLD FRONT THAT PRODUCED THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT HAS NOW PASSED
TO THE EAST.

IN EASTERN MISSOURI...ST LOUIS COUNTY AND ST LOUIS CITY...AND CRAWFORD
COUNTY...ARE NO LONGER IN THE WATCH.  IN ILLINOIS....GREENE AND
MACOUPIN COUNTIES HAVE BEEN CLEARED.

TRUETT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 17, 2:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Pike	29 min
Oct 17, 4:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Monroe	38 min
Oct 17, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Saint Clair	45 min
Oct 17, 5:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Clinton	40 min
Oct 17, 5:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Bond	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.