Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Chicago, IL

May 12, 2000Iroquois County, Kankakee County, Illinois

NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at May 12, 2000, 4:15 PM CDT for Iroquois County, Kankakee County, Illinois. It was in force for 45 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 12, 2000, 4:15 PM CDT (21:15 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 2000, 5:00 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Chicago, IL
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Iroquois County, IL, Kankakee County, IL

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:17 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, 5:05 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Clifton, 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 12, 2:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 108 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 2035 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -305 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1023 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 283 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 282 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WFUS53 KLOT 122115
TORCHI
ILC075-091-122200-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
415 PM CDT FRI MAY 12 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN IROQUOIS COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS
  KANKAKEE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 500 PM CDT

* AT 412 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED  
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH STRONG ROTATION OVER NORTHEAST LIVINGSTON
  COUNTY. ONE STORM WAS JUST WEST OF EMINGTON...AND THE OTHER WAS JUST 
  EAST OF CULLOM. THESE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT AROUND 40 MPH.
  EITHER OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.
  
* SOME LOCATIONS THREATENED THROUGH 500 PM CDT INCLUDE
  DANFORTH
  ASHKUM
  CLIFTON
  CHEBANSE
  KANKAKEE
  BONFIELD
  MARTINTON

IF NO UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...MOVE INTO AN INTERIOR ROOM
ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY STRUCTURE.

LAT...LON 4106 8822 4098 8809 4077 8804 4094 8768
          4107 8779 4120 8809

RATZER

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 3:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Livingston	23 min
May 12, 4:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LOT	Ford, Livingston	27 min
May 12, 4:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LOT	Livingston	31 min
May 12, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, Will	46 min
May 12, 4:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LOT	Kankakee	50 min
May 12, 4:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LOT	Iroquois	32 min
May 12, 5:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LOT	Iroquois	40 min
May 12, 5:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Cook	52 min
May 12, 5:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Livingston	35 min
May 12, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Grundy, Will	23 min
May 12, 6:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Kankakee	61 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes in 2000

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.