Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 34, NWS Chicago, IL

May 19, 1998Ford County, Livingston County, Illinois

NWS Chicago, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 19, 1998, 6:44 PM CDT for Ford County, Livingston County, Illinois. It was in force for 46 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 19, 1998, 6:44 PM CDT (23:44 UTC)
Expired
May 19, 1998, 7:30 PM CDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Chicago, IL
Area
Whole counties

Counties Ford County, IL, Livingston County, IL

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:47 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
May 19, 7:30 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 50Paxton, ILTrees were downed on a nursing home in Paxton. A telephone pole fell on 4 cars. In Roberts, extensive damage occurred as gutters were torn from houses, and winds uprooted trees which created roads to be blocked.
May 19, 7:30 PM CDTHail 1.75Piper City, 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
May 19, 2:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr
May 19, 6:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 68 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 1998-05-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1768 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-05-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 134 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1768 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-211 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1007 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, May 19, 5:12 PM CDT, 1 hour 32 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 19, 5:12 PM CDT, 1 hour 32 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 19, 3:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTOgle30 min
May 19, 3:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTIroquois32 min
May 19, 3:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTDeKalb, Kane40 min
May 19, 4:16 PM CDTTornado WarningLOTDeKalb, Kane44 min
May 19, 4:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTKankakee42 min
May 19, 4:41 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningLOTDeKalb, Kane60 min
May 19, 4:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTNewton36 min
May 19, 4:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTBenton39 min
May 19, 4:49 PM CDTTornado WarningLOTNewton31 min
May 19, 5:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTJasper45 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.