Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 15, NWS Lincoln, IL
NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 9:17 PM CDT for Knox County, Illinois. It was in force for 48 min. 2 reports 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
- May 18, 1997, 9:17 PM CDT (02:17 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 1997, 10:05 PM CDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lincoln, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
County Knox County, IL
The radar
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 9:19 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Abingdon, IL | |
| May 18, 9:19 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Yates City, IL | A tornado briefly touched down in a field 8 miles west southwest of Yates City. No injuries or damage were reported. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 5:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 80 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.
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KSPI 190218 RRA TORSPI ILC095-190305- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 917 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997 * TORNADO WARNING FOR KNOX COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS * UNTIL 1005 PM CDT * SOME TOWNS AFFECTED ABINGDON MAQUON YATES CITY * AT 9:15 PM CDT STORM SPOTTERS REPORTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO FORMING IN SOUTHERN KNOX COUNTY...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. SPOTTERS HAVE ALSO REPORTED NUMEROUS FUNNEL CLOUDS TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES FOR SAFER SHELTER. MILLER/PERLOW
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lincoln, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 8:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Knox | 47 min |
| May 18, 9:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Fulton, Peoria | 49 min |
| May 18, 10:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Tazewell | 50 min |
| May 18, 10:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Peoria | 32 min |
| May 18, 10:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Knox | 43 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.