Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Lincoln, IL

April 30, 1997Macon County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at Apr 30, 1997, 3:32 PM CDT for Macon County, Illinois. It was in force for 43 min. 3 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: Apr 30, 1997, 3:32 PM CDT (20:32 UTC)
Expired: Apr 30, 1997, 4:15 PM CDT
In force: 43 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 20:36 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
Apr 30, 3:40 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Blue Mound, IL	A tornado briefly touched down in a field 3 miles south of Blue Mound. No damage was reported.
Apr 30, 3:50 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind	Forsyth, IL	Thunderstorm winds damaged 3 sheds, destroyed a detached garage, caused minor siding and roof damage to ten homes and blew over a large store sign in Forsyth. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.
Apr 30, 3:53 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Oreana, IL	A tornado briefly touched down in Oreana, destroying a mobile home and a barn. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.

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
Apr 30, 2:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1130 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 166 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSPI 302037 RRA
TORSPI
ILC115-302115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED  ...RETRANSMISSION...
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
332 PM CDT WED APR 30 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  MACON COUNTY - CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 415 PM CDT

* SOME TOWNS AFFECTED
  BLUE MOUND
  DECATUR
  MOUNT ZION

* AT 330 PM CDT LINCOLN DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 3
  MILES NORTH OF TAYLORVILLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES FOR SAFER SHELTER.

PLAHMER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 30, 2:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Schuyler	27 min
Apr 30, 2:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Fulton, Schuyler	48 min
Apr 30, 2:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Knox	42 min
Apr 30, 3:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Peoria, Tazewell	43 min
Apr 30, 3:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Mason	43 min
Apr 30, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Christian	45 min
Apr 30, 3:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Marshall, Stark	37 min
Apr 30, 3:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	McLean, Tazewell	47 min
Apr 30, 3:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	DeWitt	40 min
Apr 30, 3:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Piatt	48 min
Apr 30, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Marshall	30 min
Apr 30, 4:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Champaign	55 min
Apr 30, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Coles, Cumberland	30 min
Apr 30, 4:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Clark, Edgar	50 min
Apr 30, 5:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Lawrence, Richland	29 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.