Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 114, NWS St. Louis, MO

June 21, 1997Saint Clair County, Illinois

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 21, 1997, 5:18 PM CDT for Saint Clair County, Illinois. It was in force for 57 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: Jun 21, 1997, 5:18 PM CDT (22:18 UTC)
Expired: Jun 21, 1997, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 57 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Saint Clair County, IL

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:22 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
Jun 21, 5:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Summerfield, IL	Thunderstorm wind gusts blew down truck barn at a local trucking company. One tractor cab in the barn suffered abut $2,000.00 in damage. A couple of grain silos and power poles in the area were also damaged.
Jun 21, 6:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 61	Millstadt, IL	Wind gusts estimated at 70 mph downed trees and some power poles.
Jun 21, 6:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 65	Freeburg, IL	Wind gusts estimated at 75 mph downed trees, power lines, and damaged roofs. The roof of one busines was completely blown off.

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 nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 219 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: 3170 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -37 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 187 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 146 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.

839 
WUUS1 KSTL 212220 RRA
SVRSTL
ILC163-212315-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
518 PM CDT SAT JUN 21 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  615 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS
 
   ...NORTHERN ST. CLAIR COUNTY
 
AT 515 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS DETECTING A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR MADISON ILLINOIS. THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE
SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH. IT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE TOWNS OF EAST
ST LOUIS...CASEYVILLE AND FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS. THE STORM PRODUCED GOLFBALL
SIZE HAIL AT 445 TO 500 PM ABOUT 2 MILES NORTH OF GRANITE CITY.
 
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF DAMAGING HAIL. STAY INSIDE AND AWAY
FROM WINDOWS.
 
GKS/RP
 
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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, Jun 21, 11:30 AM CDT, 5 hours 48 minutes before

ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ009-010-018-019-026-
027-034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-211700-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
1130 AM CDT SAT JUN 21 1997

THIS OUTLOOK COVERS TH COUNTY WARNING AREA OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN ST LOUIS.  AREAS INCLUDED ARE PARTS OF
CENTRAL...NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI...AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST
ILLINOIS.

THE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT OVER THE
COUNTY WARNING AREA HAS DECREASED. SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MAY
DEVELOP OVER NORTHERN AND WESTERN MISSOURI BY LATE AFTERNOON...BUT
THE MAIN THREAT AT THIS TIME APPEARS TO BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WHICH
MAY CAUSE FLASH FLOODING.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES IN EFFECT FOR NORTHEAST MISSOURI AND
SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND STORM SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST
FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS FOR POSSIBLE UPDATES AND REVISIONS. AT THIS
TIME...SKYWARN OPERATIONS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED FOR THIS EVENING AND
TONIGHT.

BECHTOLD

The office that day

Everything else NWS St. Louis, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 21, 4:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Madison	51 min
Jun 21, 5:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Clinton	43 min
Jun 21, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Clinton, Marion	46 min
Jun 21, 6:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Saint Clair	52 min
Jun 21, 6:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Monroe	44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 1997 Every 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.