Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Quad Cities, IA

May 18, 1997Putnam County, Illinois

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 9:14 PM CDT for Putnam County, Illinois. It was in force for 31 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: May 18, 1997, 9:14 PM CDT (02:14 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1997, 9:45 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Putnam County, IL

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:13 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 18, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 111 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: 2339 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1544 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 145 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 165 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.0
Supercell composite: 9.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMLI 190214 RRA
TORMLI
ILC155-190245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
914 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  PUTNAM COUNTY - IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 945 PM CDT
 
* THIS TORNADO WILL REACH NEAR
  GOOSE LAKE                         AROUND 915 PM CDT
  HENNEPIN                           AROUND 915 PM CDT
  MORONTS                            AROUND 920 PM CDT
  FLORID                             AROUND 920 PM CDT
  MARK                               AROUND 925 PM CDT

* AT 914 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY QUAD CITIES
  IA DOPPLER RADAR 2 MILES EAST OF PRINCETON MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...GO TO A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT
AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

PIERCE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 7:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Bureau	50 min
May 18, 8:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Rock Island	49 min
May 18, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Henderson	52 min
May 18, 8:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Henry	47 min
May 18, 8:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Warren	49 min
May 18, 8:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Bureau	47 min
May 18, 8:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Bureau	49 min
May 18, 8:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Henderson	45 min
May 18, 8:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Mercer	36 min
May 18, 9:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Warren	48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes in 1997

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.