Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 59, NWS Chicago, IL
NWS Chicago, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 18, 1997, 11:12 PM CDT for Ford County, Iroquois County, Livingston County, Illinois. It was in force for 63 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
- May 18, 1997, 11:12 PM CDT (04:12 UTC)
- Expired
- May 19, 1997, 12:15 AM CDT
- In force
- 63 min
- Issued by
- NWS Chicago, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Ford County, IL, Iroquois County, IL, Livingston County, IL
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:15 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, 11:20 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind | Watseka, IL | Strong winds downed trees. |
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, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
| May 18, 11:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 00:00Z, 4.2 hours before the alert went out and 74 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
- 1314 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -31 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1926 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 104 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 292 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 8.8
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 7:00 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Lake, McHenry | 60 min |
| May 18, 7:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kane | 66 min |
| May 18, 7:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | LaSalle, Lee | 56 min |
| May 18, 7:30 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Kane | 30 min |
| May 18, 7:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kendall, LaSalle | 63 min |
| May 18, 7:47 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | DuPage, Will | 58 min |
| May 18, 8:04 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Grundy, Kankakee, Will | 56 min |
| May 18, 8:04 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Cook | 56 min |
| May 18, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Ford, Iroquois, Kankakee | 2 hr |
| May 18, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Livingston | 2 hr |
| May 18, 9:18 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | LaSalle | 57 min |
| May 18, 9:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Grundy, Livingston | 66 min |
| May 18, 10:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Iroquois, Kankakee | 55 min |
| May 18, 8:15 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Lake, Porter | 60 min |
| May 18, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Jasper, LaPorte, Pulaski, Starke, White | 2 hr |
| May 18, 8:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Marshall, Saint Joseph | 2 hr |
| May 18, 9:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Fulton, Kosciusko | 56 min |
| May 18, 9:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Elkhart | 56 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 1997Every 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.