Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 48, NWS St. Louis, MO
NWS St. Louis, MO issued this tornado warning at May 23, 1998, 6:16 PM CDT for Madison County, Illinois. It was in force for 49 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 23, 1998, 6:16 PM CDT (23:16 UTC)
- Expired
- May 23, 1998, 7:05 PM CDT
- In force
- 49 min
- Issued by
- NWS St. Louis, MO
- Area
- Whole counties
County Madison County, IL
The radar
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:20 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 23, 6:55 PM CDT | Thunderstorm Wind 51 | East Alton, 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 23, 3:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 185 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
- 64 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -431 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 556 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 142 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 186 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 4.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
946 WFUS1 KSTL 232317 RRA TORSTL ILC119-240005- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 616 PM CDT SAT MAY 23 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... MADISON COUNTY ILLINOIS IN SOUTHWESTERN ILLINOIS * UNTIL 705 PM CDT * AT 615 PM... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 3 MILES EAST OF FLORISSANT... MOVING MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH. * LOCATIONS IN THE PATH... EDWARDSVILLE GRANITE CITY DOPPLER RADAR IS SHOWING A STRONG TORNADO SIGNAL. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH MOVE TO A SHELTER NOW A BASEMENT IS BEST...BUT IF NOT AVAILABLE...MOVE TO THE LOWEST LEVEL AND HIDE IN A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM. GET OUT OF MOBILE HOMES AND CARS IN FAVOR OF A STRONG BUILDING. FG/RP
The office that day
Everything else NWS St. Louis, MO issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22, 10:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Montgomery | 30 min |
| May 23, 6:09 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LSX | Monroe, Saint Clair | 51 min |
| May 23, 6:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Greene, Jersey | 49 min |
| May 23, 6:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Randolph | 33 min |
| May 23, 6:50 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LSX | Greene | 50 min |
| May 23, 6:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Clinton | 47 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.