Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Chicago, IL
NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at May 19, 1998, 4:16 PM CDT for DeKalb County, Kane County, Illinois. It was in force for 44 min. 1 report 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, 4:16 PM CDT (21:16 UTC)
- Expired
- May 19, 1998, 5:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 44 min
- Issued by
- NWS Chicago, IL
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties DeKalb County, IL, Kane County, IL
The radar
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:15 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 19, 4:20 PM CDT | Hail 1 | De Kalb, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 2:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 161 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
- 2752 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -94 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 917 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -51 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -8 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -2.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
651 WFUS1 KCHI 192119 RRA TORCHI ILC037-089-192200- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 416 PM CDT TUE MAY 19 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... DEKALB COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS KANE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS * UNTIL 500 PM CDT * AT 417 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO IN EAST CENTRAL DEKALB COUNTY JUST EAST OF DEKALB. * THE TORNADO WILL BE NEAR... 5 MILES NORTH OF HINKLEY AROUND 425 PM CDT SUGAR GROVE AROUND 440 PM CDT GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR $$ DICKSON
The office that day
Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 19, 3:38 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Ogle | 30 min |
| May 19, 3:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Iroquois | 32 min |
| May 19, 3:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | DeKalb, Kane | 40 min |
| May 19, 4:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kankakee | 42 min |
| May 19, 4:41 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LOT | DeKalb, Kane | 60 min |
| May 19, 6:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Ford, Livingston | 46 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.