Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 1, NWS St. Louis, MO

February 26, 1996Montgomery County, Illinois

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this tornado warning at Feb 26, 1996, 6:10 PM CST for Montgomery County, Illinois. It was in force for 20 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
Feb 26, 1996, 6:10 PM CST (00:10 UTC)
Expired
Feb 26, 1996, 6:30 PM CST
In force
20 min
Issued by
NWS St. Louis, MO
Area
Whole counties

County Montgomery County, IL

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:09 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Feb 26, 6:15 PM CSTTornado F0Farmersville, 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 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 127 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 00:00Z on 1996-02-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 590 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 1996-02-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 224 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
590 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-93 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1087 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
224 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSTL 270011
TORSTL
ILC135-270030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
610 PM CST MON FEB 26 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS
 
   ...NORTHERN MONTGOMERY COUNTY
 
NWS DOPPLER RADAR IDICATED A TORNADO OVER THE MACOUPIN MONTGOMERY COUNTY
LINE JUST SOUTHEAST OF FARMERSVILLE. THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT
35 MPH.
 
PEOPLE IN THE FARMERSVILLE SHOULD TAKE COVER NOW! THE STORM WILL ALSO
BE CROSSING INTERSTATE 55  BY 615 PM.
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER IN A BASEMENT
OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL.
 
JPK

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 26, 6:03 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSXMontgomery27 min
Feb 26, 6:43 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLSXMacoupin32 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.