Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Lincoln, IL

April 7, 1998Logan County, Illinois

NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at Apr 7, 1998, 5:54 PM CDT for Logan County, Illinois. It was in force for 66 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
Apr 7, 1998, 5:54 PM CDT (22:54 UTC)
Expired
Apr 7, 1998, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
66 min
Issued by
NWS Lincoln, IL
Area
Whole counties

County Logan County, IL

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 4 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:55 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 7, 6:05 PM CDTTornado F0Mt Pulaski, ILA tornado briefly touched down in a field 2.5 miles west of Mt. Pulaski. No injuries or damage were reported.
Apr 7, 6:14 PM CDTHail 0.75Lincoln, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Apr 7, 2:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 65 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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 1998-04-07Temperature 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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 1998-04-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 69 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
1568 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
51 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.

224 
WFUS1 KSPI 072256 RRA
TORSPI
ILC107-080000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
554 PM CDT TUE APR 7 1998

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  LOGAN COUNTY IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 700 PM CDT

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  MT PULASKI
  LINCOLN
  ELKHART
  ATLANTA

* AT 554 PM CDT LINCOLN DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 10
  MILES NORTHEAST OF SPRINGFIELD...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES FOR SAFER SHELTER.

FRIEDERS

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.

NWS Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Apr 7, 2:29 PM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 7, 2:29 PM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
229 PM CDT TUE APR 7 1998

ETA MDL LACKING SOME HOURS...BUT RUC AND MESO-ETA FROM LAST NIGHT
VERIFIED WELL.  SFC LOW STILL IN SE NE AND NE KS...WITH WRM FRONT
EXTENDING TO BETWEEN SPI AND STL. THIS IS SLOW TO MOVE NORTH THIS AFTN
AND THIS EVE.  SOME MOISTURE CONVERGENCE  ALONG FRONT WITH SW SFC FLOW
SOUTH OF FRONT. WINDS NORTH OF FRONT FROM SE.  TEMPS ALOFT COOLING
SETTING UP STEEP LAPSE RATE OVER NRN MO INTO CNTRL IL.  MID LVL JET 50+
KT ALSO PUSHING INTO CNTRL IL.  DEWPOINTS IN MID TO UPPER 50S ACRS AREA
WITH TEMPS UNDER MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES NEAR 70.  MODIFIED ILX SOUNDING
SHOWS CAPE ABOVE 1000 AND LIS TO -3.  GOOD SHEAR PROFILE ALONG FRONT SO
ROTATION POSSIBLE.  STORMS HAVE ALREADY DEVELOPED N OR COU AND WILL MOVE
NE.  ZONES LOOK FINE FOR TONIGHT. RECOMMEND MENTION OF SEVERE FOR
TONIGHT...BUT ENDING LATER.

SINCE SYS IS MOVING SLOWLY...COULD SEE MORE ACTIVITY TOMORROW. RECOMMEND
CHC POPS FOR TOMORROW.

GUIDANCE LOOKS FINE FOR TEMPS TON AND TOMORROW.

ACTIVITY DEVELOPING OVER AREA NOW.  WILL SEND ADMSPI BEFORE 3PM.

PIA  47/64  84
SPI  52/65  85
DEC  51/65  86
CMI  48/67  86
LWV  54/69  86

AUTEN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 7, 2:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningILXFulton, Peoria61 min
Apr 7, 3:27 PM CDTTornado WarningILXFulton, Peoria48 min
Apr 7, 4:00 PM CDTTornado WarningILXCass, Mason, Schuyler45 min
Apr 7, 4:07 PM CDTTornado WarningILXPeoria53 min
Apr 7, 4:13 PM CDTTornado WarningILXMorgan, Sangamon47 min
Apr 7, 4:36 PM CDTTornado WarningILXMason54 min
Apr 7, 4:51 PM CDTTornado WarningILXFulton, Schuyler69 min
Apr 7, 4:57 PM CDTTornado WarningILXLogan, Sangamon63 min
Apr 7, 5:05 PM CDTTornado WarningILXChristian, Sangamon55 min
Apr 7, 5:10 PM CDTTornado WarningILXTazewell65 min
Apr 7, 5:22 PM CDTTornado WarningILXMason53 min
Apr 7, 5:51 PM CDTTornado WarningILXFulton69 min
Apr 7, 5:57 PM CDTTornado WarningILXChristian63 min
Apr 7, 6:06 PM CDTTornado WarningILXMacon, Shelby69 min
Apr 7, 6:13 PM CDTTornado WarningILXPeoria, Tazewell62 min
Apr 7, 6:13 PM CDTTornado WarningILXMason62 min
Apr 7, 6:25 PM CDTTornado WarningILXMenard50 min
Apr 7, 6:28 PM CDTTornado WarningILXDeWitt, McLean62 min
Apr 7, 6:33 PM CDTTornado WarningILXMoultrie42 min
Apr 7, 6:44 PM CDTTornado WarningILXKnox, Stark46 min
Apr 7, 6:55 PM CDTTornado WarningILXPiatt50 min
Apr 7, 6:57 PM CDTTornado WarningILXLogan63 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes in 1998

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.