Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 5, NWS Lincoln, IL

March 28, 1997Macon County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 28, 1997, 4:06 PM CST for Macon County, Illinois. It was in force for 54 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: Mar 28, 1997, 4:06 PM CST (22:06 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 1997, 5:00 PM CST
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS Lincoln, IL
Area: Whole counties

County Macon County, IL

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:08 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
Mar 28, 4:12 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Niantic/Forsyth, 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 28, 2:15 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 45 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: 127 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 815 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 207 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 211 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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.

NWS Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Mar 28, 1:58 PM CST, 2 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 28, 1:58 PM CST, 2 hours 8 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
200 PM CST FRI MAR 28 1997

MDLS IN GOOD AGREEMENT W/ SYS ROTATING INTO IL TON.  BEST DYNAMICS AS
WELL AS MOIST CONVRG...UP LVL DVRG WL BE OVR SRN IL TO INCLUDE PORTIONS
OF SE AND EC IL THIS EVE AND TON.  STORMS HAVE ALREADY DVLPD S AND SW
OF STL ALONG SFC THERMAL RDG AND NOW OF 55 DWPTS ENDING AT STL.  RWS
AND TSTMS WL DVLP THIS AFTN AND CONT THIS EVE.  NRN CNTIES COULD STILL
SEE SOME THUNDER PUT JUST THIS EVE...ENDING EARLY.  FRNT SHOULD PUSH
THROUGH PIA BY 00Z AND SPI BY 01Z...LIMITING THE DURATION OF
CONVECTION.  SOME -RA IS PSBL BEHIND FRNT BUT IT TOO WONT LAST LONG.
MOIST WL STICK AROUND BEHIND FRNT W/ SOME CAA.  SKIES SHOULD BRK OUT
TOM AND BRNG SEASONABLE CONDS FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE HOLIDAY WEEK.

MDLS SIM W/ TEMPS TON AND TOM...NO REASON TO DIFFER.

PIA   42/5  6(EARLY)0
SPI   43/5  7(EARLY)0
DEC   42/5  80
CMI   44/5  +0
LWV   46/5  +0

AUTEN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 28, 10:27 AM CST, 5 hours 39 minutes before

ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-291200

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
1100 AM CST FRI MAR 28 1997

SYNOPSIS: A COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO THE REGION THIS
AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST
TO DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT.

SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON INTO
THIS EVENING ACROSS CENTRAL...EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS.
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED AS A RESULT.

AUTEN

Special weather statement, Mar 28, 11:00 AM CST, 5 hours 6 minutes before

ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-291200

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
1100 AM CST FRI MAR 28 1997

SYNOPSIS: A COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO THE REGION THIS
AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST
TO DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT.

SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON INTO
THIS EVENING ACROSS CENTRAL...EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS.
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED AS A RESULT.

AUTEN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 28, 2:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Menard	36 min
Mar 28, 3:18 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Logan, Sangamon	57 min
Mar 28, 3:54 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian	36 min
Mar 28, 4:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	McLean	60 min
Mar 28, 4:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	DeWitt	48 min
Mar 28, 4:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Effingham	53 min
Mar 28, 4:49 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Champaign, Piatt	56 min
Mar 28, 5:00 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Shelby	30 min
Mar 28, 5:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	ILX	Coles, Cumberland	33 min
Mar 28, 5:35 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	DeWitt	40 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.