Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 21, NWS Lincoln, IL
NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at Aug 3, 1997, 4:50 PM CDT for Knox County, Illinois. It was in force for 65 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
- Aug 3, 1997, 4:50 PM CDT (21:50 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 3, 1997, 5:55 PM CDT
- In force
- 65 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 21:50 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 3, 4:58 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Victoria, IL | A tornado briefly touched down on the south side of Lake Calhoun. It blew down between 25 to 30 large trees, some of which fell onto a picnic pavilion destroying it. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available. |
| Aug 3, 6:05 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Galesburg, IL | Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees and numerous tree limbs in Galesburg. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 3, 2:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 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
- 13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -260 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1867 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 37 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 22 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
563 WFUS1 KSPI 032151 RRA TORSPI ILC095-032255- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 450 PM CDT SUN AUG 3 1997 * TORNADO WARNING FOR KNOX COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS * UNTIL 555 PM CDT * SOME TOWNS AFFECTED WATAGA GALESBURG KNOXVILLE * AT 448 PM CDT LINCOLN DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 12 MILES NORTH OF GALESBURG NEAR WOODHULL...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 40 MPH. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES FOR SAFER SHELTER. OUSLEY
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lincoln, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 3, 4:23 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Knox, Stark | 52 min |
| Aug 3, 5:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Peoria | 63 min |
| Aug 3, 5:07 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Peoria | 53 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.