Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Lincoln, IL

March 28, 1997Shelby County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 28, 1997, 5:00 PM CST for Shelby County, Illinois. It was in force for 30 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, 5:00 PM CST (23:00 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 1997, 5:30 PM CST
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Lincoln, IL
Area: Whole counties

County Shelby County, IL

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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, 5:08 PM CST	Hail 1.75	Stewardson, 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, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 86 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

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

000 
TTAA00 KSPI 282301 RRA
SVRSPI
ILC173-282330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
500 PM CST FRI MAR 28 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  EASTERN SHELBY COUNTY - CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 530 PM CST
 
* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM:

    WINDSOR
    STEWARDSON
    TROWBRIDGE

* AT 455 PM CST LINCOLN DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF EFFINGHAM...MOVHING NORTHEAST AT
  45 MPH.

THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL. GET INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

GEELHART

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, 4:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Macon	54 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, 5:12 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.