Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 12, NWS Chicago, IL
NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at Aug 24, 1998, 12:37 PM CDT for Ogle County, Winnebago County, Illinois. It was in force for 33 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 24, 1998, 12:37 PM CDT (17:37 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 24, 1998, 1:10 PM CDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Chicago, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Ogle County, IL, Winnebago County, IL
The radar
The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:36 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.
The watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 10:15 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 122 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
- 2161 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -158 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1178 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 37 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 54 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 128 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KCHI 241737 RRA TORCHI ILC141-201-241810- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 1237 PM CDT MON AUG 24 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... OGLE COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS WINNEBAGO COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS * UNTIL 110 PM CDT * AT 133PM RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR EGAN OR ABOUT 15 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF ROCKFORD. MOVEMENT IS TO THE EAST SOUTHEAST AT 45 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... BYRON BY 1245 PM MORRISTOWN AT 1255 PM THE TORNADO THREAT IS PRIMARILY IN NORTHERN OGLE AND SOUTHERN WINNEBAGO COUNTIES BUT DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS AND HAIL ARE POSSIBLE ANPYWHERE IN THOSE COUNTIES. GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!
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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 24, 6:50 AM CDT, 5 hours 47 minutes before
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>002-010>011- 019-241600- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK/UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 650 AM CDT MON AUG 24 1998 FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A VERY WARM AND MOIST TROPICAL AIR MASS LIES ACROSS THE AREA WITH A NEARLY STATIONARY FRONT LYING JUST NORTH OF THE AREA FROM EXTREME SOUTHERN WISCONSIN INTO NORTHERN NEBRASKA. A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS LOCATED ON THE WESTERN END OF THE FRONT OVER NEBRASKA AND THIS LOW WILL MOVE EAST TO EXTREME NORTHERN ILLINOIS BY LATE TONIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING THIS MORNING ACROSS EASTERN NEBRASKA AHEAD OF THE LOW AND THIS ACTIVITY SHOULD SPREAD EASTWARD INTO NORTHERN ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO NORTHWEST INDIANA BY THIS EVENING. SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY TONIGHT MORRISON
Special weather statement, Aug 24, 10:58 AM CDT, 1 hour 39 minutes before
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>002-010>011- 019-251100- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 1100 AM CDT/EST MON AUG 24 1998 FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA ...MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS... THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND EXTREME NORTHWEST INDIANA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS ALREADY IN EFFECT FOR ILLINOIS COUNTIES ROUGHLY ALONG AND NORTH OF I-80 UNTIL 4PM CDT. WARM AND VERY MOIST AIR REMAINS IN PLACE ACROSS THE AREA. A THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX IS MOVING EASTWARD THROUGH NORTHEAST IOWA AT LATE MORNING AND WILL REACH NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS DURING THE EARLY AFTERNOON AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS BY MID AFTERNOON AND NORTHWEST INDIANA BY LATE AFTERNOON. DAMAGING WINDS ARE PARTICULARLY LIKELY WITH THE STRONGER OF THESE STORMS AND HAIL TO GOLF BALL SIZE IS POSSIBLE. THERE MAY BE A SECOND ROUND OF STORMS WITH SEVERE POTENTIAL IN THE EVENING OR EARLY NIGHTTIME HOURS. THIS COULD AFFECT THE SAME AREAS AS THE AFTERNOON ACTIVITY AND ALSO AREAS SOUTH OF I-80. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED BY 1 PM IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...AFTER 2PM IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND AFTER 4PM IN NORTHWEST INDIANA. KAPLAN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 12:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Ogle, Winnebago | 51 min |
| Aug 24, 12:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Lee | 55 min |
| Aug 24, 12:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Boone, DeKalb | 53 min |
| Aug 24, 1:14 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kane, McHenry | 31 min |
| Aug 24, 1:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Cook, DuPage, Kendall, Will | 62 min |
| Aug 24, 1:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Lake | 62 min |
| Aug 24, 2:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Will | 51 min |
| Aug 24, 2:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kankakee | 54 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.