Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 52, NWS Lincoln, IL
NWS Lincoln, IL issued this tornado warning at May 12, 1998, 6:02 PM CDT for Cass County, Schuyler County, Illinois. It was in force for 58 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
- May 12, 1998, 6:02 PM CDT (23:02 UTC)
- Expired
- May 12, 1998, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 58 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lincoln, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Cass County, IL, Schuyler County, IL
The radar
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:05 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 12, 6:20 PM CDT | Hail 4.5 | Littleton, IL | Hail fell over Littleton covering the ground. Some of the hail stones were 4.5 inches in diameter. Numerous cars and machinery sustained damage. |
| May 12, 6:23 PM CDT | Hail 1.5 | Beardstown, IL | |
| May 12, 6:28 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Littleton, IL | A tornado briefly touched down in a field 2 miles west of Littleton. No injuries or damage were reported. |
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 12, 4:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 156 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1323 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 188 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KSPI 122302 RRA TORSPI ILC017-169-130000- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 602 PM CDT TUE MAY 12 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LINCOLN HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR CASS COUNTY IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS SCHUYLER COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS * UNTIL 700 PM CDT * AT 555 PM CDT LINCOLN DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF BEARDSTOWN...MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. * THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT AREAS AROUND... RIPLEY BEARDSTOWN BLUFF SPRINGS VIRGINIA IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER IN A BASEMENT OR INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. VEHICLES AND MOBILE HOMES SHOULD BE ABANDONED FOR A SAFER SHELTER. FRIEDERS
The office that day
Everything else NWS Lincoln, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 12, 6:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Fulton | 64 min |
| May 12, 6:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Morgan, Scott | 57 min |
| May 12, 6:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Peoria, Tazewell | 69 min |
| May 12, 6:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Cass | 50 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.