Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 15, NWS Paducah, KY

April 16, 2000Alexander County, Illinois; Mississippi County, Missouri

NWS Paducah, KY issued this tornado warning at Apr 16, 2000, 7:35 PM CDT for Alexander County, Illinois; Mississippi County, Missouri. It was in force for 25 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: Apr 16, 2000, 7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)
Expired: Apr 16, 2000, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Paducah, KY
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Alexander County, IL, Mississippi County, MO

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 16, 8:00 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Cairo, IL	A supercell thunderstorm tracked east from Scott County, Missouri over sparsely populated Mississippi River bottomland to Cairo. Golf ball size hail fell at Cairo.

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
Apr 16, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 250 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: 520 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -41 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1274 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 130 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

882 
WFUS53 KPAH 170035
TORPAH
ILC003-MOC133-170100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
735 PM CDT SUN APR 16 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PADUCAH HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
  SOUTHERN ALEXANDER COUNTY IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 735 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 13 MILES WEST OF CAIRO...OR ABOUT 7 MILES
  NORTHWEST OF CHARLESTON...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

TAKE COVER NOW. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES. MOVE TO AN
INTERIOR ROOM OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS

LAT...LON 3708 8934 3691 8939 3692 8916 3708 8919

MY/CN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Paducah, KY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 16, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Alexander	51 min
Apr 16, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Pulaski	51 min
Apr 16, 8:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Alexander, Pulaski	31 min
Apr 16, 9:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Perry	39 min
Apr 16, 9:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Jackson, Johnson, Union, Williamson	50 min
Apr 16, 9:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Jefferson	41 min
Apr 16, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Scott	27 min
Apr 16, 7:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	PAH	Scott	29 min
Apr 16, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Butler	51 min
Apr 16, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Butler, Stoddard	52 min
Apr 16, 8:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	New Madrid	36 min
Apr 16, 8:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Mississippi	51 min
Apr 16, 8:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	New Madrid	61 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 2000 Tornado Warnings in Missouri, 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.