Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Chicago, IL

May 18, 1997Lake County, McHenry County, Illinois

NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 7:00 PM CDT for Lake County, McHenry County, Illinois. It was in force for 60 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, 7:00 PM CDT (00:00 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Chicago, IL
Area: Whole counties

Counties Lake County, IL, McHenry County, IL

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:07 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, 7:08 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 57	Lake Villa, IL
May 18, 7:18 PM CDT	Tornado F2	Lindenhurst, IL	A tornado touched down on the southeast side of Lindenhurst and damaged trees and the roofs of several homes. The tornado reached F2 intensity near Sand Lake Road and Route 45 where 2 barns were destroyed, two foot diameter oak trees were broken off or uproot

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, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 209 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

792 
WFUS1 KCHI 190002 RRA
TORCHI
ILC097-111-190100-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
700 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS

   ...NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY...NORTHERN MCHENRY COUNTY

AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN


AT 700 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO IN A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IN
NORTHWEST MCHENRY COUNTY NEAR HARVARD... MOVING TOWARD ...HEBRON AND
GREENWOOD.

THE STORM IS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

SOME TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM
INCLUDE...HEBRON...GREENWOOD...WONDER LAKE...FOX LAKE...ANTIOCH...
LINDENHURST...AND ZION.








GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS  A TORNADO
WATCH IS IN EFFECT.



&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 18, 1:48 PM CDT, 5 hours 12 minutes before

ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>005-010>016-019>020-
191000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1 45 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 294 IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT
FOR LAKE...PORTER...JASPER...NEWTON AND BENTON COUNTIES
IN EXTREME NORTHWEST INDIANA.

ALTHOUGH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE STILL OCCURRING IN THIS AREA
THEY ARE NO LONGER EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE.

HOWEVER THERE IS STILL A CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING
OR EARLY TONIGHT AS A COOL FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA FROM THE
NORTHWEST.

MORRISON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
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, 11:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Ford, Iroquois, Livingston	63 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.