Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS St. Louis, MO

March 28, 1997Randolph County, Illinois; Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 28, 1997, 2:27 PM CST for Randolph County, Illinois; Sainte Genevieve County, Missouri. It was in force for 48 min. 5 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: Mar 28, 1997, 2:27 PM CST (20:27 UTC)
Expired: Mar 28, 1997, 3:15 PM CST
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Randolph County, IL, Sainte Genevieve County, MO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:26 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
Mar 28, 2:45 PM CST	Hail 1	Prairie Du Rocher, IL
Mar 28, 3:05 PM CST	Hail 1	Sparta, IL
Mar 28, 3:10 PM CST	Hail 1	Eden, IL
Mar 28, 3:10 PM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Coulterville, IL
Mar 28, 3:10 PM CST	Hail 2	Coulterville, IL

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
Mar 28, 2:15 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 271 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: 127 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 815 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 207 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 211 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

080 
WUUS1 KSTL 282029 RRA
SVRSTL
ILC157-MOC186-282115-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
227 PM CST FRI MAR 28 1997
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  315 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS
 
   ...RANDOLPH COUNTY
 
 
IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI
 
   ...NORTHERN ST. GENEVIEVE COUNTY
 
AT 230 PM...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED NEAR BLOOMSDALE. THE STORM
WAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST AT 40 TO 45 MPH. THE STORM WILL
MOVE THROUGH THE TOWNS OF BLOOMSDALE...PRAIRIE DU ROCHER...RED BUD...
AND SPARTA BETWEEN 240 AND 310 PM.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM BE PREPARED FOR DAMAGING WINDS...HAIL
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. STAY INSIDE AND AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
 
RCE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 28, 2:02 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Bond, Madison	43 min
Mar 28, 2:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Greene	52 min
Mar 28, 2:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Madison, Saint Clair	45 min
Mar 28, 2:52 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Saint Clair, Washington	53 min
Mar 28, 3:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Washington	40 min
Mar 28, 3:27 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Macoupin	48 min
Mar 28, 4:02 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Clinton, Marion	43 min
Mar 28, 4:15 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Fayette	45 min
Mar 28, 2:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Saint Charles	52 min
Mar 28, 2:46 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Madison, Saint Francois	44 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 1997 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Missouri, 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.