Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Chicago, IL

April 30, 1997Lake County, Illinois

NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at Apr 30, 1997, 5:13 PM CDT for Lake County, Illinois. It was in force for 32 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 30, 1997, 5:13 PM CDT (22:13 UTC)
Expired
Apr 30, 1997, 5:45 PM CDT
In force
32 min
Issued by
NWS Chicago, IL
Area
Whole counties

County Lake County, IL

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:13 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Apr 30, 3:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 233 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 1997-04-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 1997-04-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 75 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1366 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
180 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 KCHI 302214 RRA
TORCHI
ILC097-302245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
513 PM CDT WED APR 30 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS
 
   ...EASTERN LAKE COUNTY
 
AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN
 
 
AT 510 PM CDT A TORNADO WAS REPORTED NEAR LAKE ZURICH IN SOUTHERN LAKE
COUNTY. THE STORM IS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH. TOWNS IN THE
PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE MUNDELEIN...LIBERTYVILLE AND WAUKEGAN.
 
GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!
 
 
 
MERZLOCK

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 30, 2:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTLee35 min
Apr 30, 2:41 PM CDTTornado WarningLOTLee34 min
Apr 30, 3:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTLaSalle40 min
Apr 30, 3:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTDeKalb48 min
Apr 30, 4:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTFord, Livingston31 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.