Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 94, NWS Paducah, KY

July 18, 2001Johnson County, Pope County, Saline County, Illinois

NWS Paducah, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 18, 2001, 3:00 PM CDT for Johnson County, Pope County, Saline County, Illinois. It was in force for 45 min. 3 reports 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: Jul 18, 2001, 3:00 PM CDT (20:00 UTC)
Expired: Jul 18, 2001, 3:45 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Paducah, KY
Area: Whole counties

Counties Johnson County, IL, Pope County, IL, Saline County, IL

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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
Jul 18, 3:09 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	New Burnside, IL	Trees were down, mainly in northeast Johnson County around New Burnside.
Jul 18, 3:10 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52 E	Countywide, IL	Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous trees across Saline County. The brunt of the damage extended from 4 or 5 miles west of Harrisburg through Stonefort to the Pope County border. This included Carrier Mills and Ledford. Some of the trees landed on houses, bu
Jul 18, 3:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 E	Countywide, IL	Numerous trees were blown down across the county. One man was killed when his truck struck a fallen tree on Route 146, then overturned into a roadside creek.

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
Jul 18, 1:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 241 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: 81 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -269 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1010 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 18, 1:00 PM CDT, 2 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 18, 1:00 PM CDT, 2 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
100 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

PRIMARY FCST CHALLENGE IS ON NEXT TWO VORTS. IR PICS SHOW 1ST POTENT
VORT JUST UPSTREAM WITH COOLING TOPS/INCREASING LTG STRIKES IN STL
VCNTY...EXTENDING WWARD ALONG QUASI-STNRY LOW LAYER BOUNDARY...AS
FAR WEST EVEN AS MCI. NOTE H7 CAPPING TEMPS 10-12C PLUS INHIBITING
CONVECTION IN STILL SOUPY AIR MASS TO SOUTH AND WEST OF BOUNDARY.

MODELS PRODUCE DIFFERING SOLUTIONS ON EXACT TRACKS AND TIMING OF TWO
COMPLEXES BUT IN GENERAL THEIR DIFFERENCES WON'T MAJORLY AFFECT ZFP
WORDING. PER RECENT COORDINATION WITH SPC...1ST POTENT VORT SLIDING
SE OUT OF STL WL BE ENCOUNTERING MOISTURE RICH AND DIURNALLY JUICED
ATMOSPHERE IN PAH FA...WITH UPCOMING WW FOR MUCH OF AREA THRU 23Z.
SHOULD BE A LULL THEN IN EARLY NIGHT ACTIVITY FOLLOWED BY LATE
NIGHT/EARLY MORNING NEXT CHC PCPN AS 2ND VORT TOPS RIDGE AND SLIDES
SE JUST EAST OF MID LEVEL CAPPING. SUM EFFECT IS HIGHEST POPS NORTH
AND EAST...TAPERING TO LOWER POPS SOUTH AND WEST THRU THU. MAY HAVE
TO LINGER POPS SW INTO THU NIGHT AS LOW LAYER BOUNDARY PIVOTS IN
WAKE OF AFOREMENTIONED SYSTEMS.

LATEST EXTENDED GUIDANCE MINIMIZES CHC PCPN AS BROAD SCALE UPPER
HIGH CIRCULATION AND MID LEVEL CAP STRENGTHENS...SO WL FOLLOW IN
LIKE MANNER WITH NEEDED EXTENDED MODIFICATIONS.

GUIDANCE IS GENERALLY IN SYNCH AND PERFORMING FAIRLY WELL...AND WITH
OVERALL PATTERN PERSISTENCE WL OFFER JUST MINOR TWEEKS.

.PAH...NONE.
DH

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 18, 1:27 PM CDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before

ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100-
110>112-114-182300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
127 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH #574 IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF THE QUAD
STATE REGION UNTIL 600 PM...

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MOST OF THE QUAD
STATE REGION UNTIL 600 PM.  THE ONLY COUNTIES NOT INCLUDED IN THIS
WATCH ARE CARTER, BUTLER AND RIPLEY COUNTIES OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP IN THE WARM... MOIST UNSTABLE
AIRMASS OVER THE REGION.  THESE STORMS WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST AT 15 TO
20 MPH AND MAY BE ACCOMPANIED BY LARGE HAIL IN EXCESS OF 3/4 INCH
IN DIAMETER AND STRONG DAMAGING WIND OF GREATER THAN 60 MPH.  ALSO
ASSOCIATED WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND THE
THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE STORMS MAY REDEVELOP...OR BACK-BUILD...
TO THE NORTH AND WEST...WHICH COULD RESULT IN REPEAT STORMS OVER THE
SAME AREAS. THIS COMBINED WITH THE HIGH MOISTURE CONTENT MAKES
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS ALSO A POSSIBLE THREAT.

SPOTTERS ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN IN ALERT STATUS IN CASE THEIR
ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED.

IF LIGHTNING IS OCCURRIN(G AND A STURDY SHELTER IS NOT AVAILABLE...GET
INSIDE A HARD TOP AUTOMOBILE AND KEEP WINDOWS UP.

Local storm report, Jul 18, 2:40 PM CDT, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
240 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0234 PM    ZEIGLER                   IL   WIND DAMAGE
07/18/01   FRANKLIN                       TWO TREES REPORTED DOWN

Local storm report, Jul 18, 2:45 PM CDT, 15 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
245 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0230 PM    REND LAKE                 IL   WIND DAMAGE
07/18/01   FRANKLIN                       NUMEROUS TREES AND LARGE
                                          LIMBS

Local storm report, Jul 18, 2:50 PM CDT, 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
250 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0239 PM    CARBONDALE                IL   50 MPH WIND GUST
07/18/01   JACKSON                        WIND GUST REPORTED ON
                                          WEST SIDE OF CARBONDALE
                                          BY SPOTTER

Local storm report, Jul 18, 2:52 PM CDT, 8 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
252 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0255 PM    CARBONDALE                IL   WIND DAMAGE
07/18/01   JACKSON                        TREES AND POWER LINES
                                          DOWN REPORTED BY
                                          CARBONDALE EOC

0255 PMd    JOHNSON CITY              IL   WIND DAMAGE
07/18/01   WILLIAMSON                     NUMEROUS TREES DOWN
                                          REPORTED BY HAM RADIO
                                          SPOTTERS

Special weather statement, Jul 18, 3:00 PM CDT, 0 minutes before

ILZ081-084>086-088-089-MOZ076-182030-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
300 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2001

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS PARTS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS AND
   SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...

AT 300 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED AN AREA OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS FROM
NEAR GALATIA ILLINOIS TO PERRYVILLE MISSOURI. THESE STORMS ARE
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS...SMALL HAIL...AND WIND
GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH. THE LEADING EDGE OF THIS AREA WILL REACH A
RUDEMENT ILLINOIS...TO JONESBORO ILLINOIS...TO UNIONTOWN MISSOURI
LINE BY 330 PM CDT.

JAP

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 18, 1:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Perry	42 min
Jul 18, 2:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Franklin	46 min
Jul 18, 2:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Williamson	46 min
Jul 18, 3:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Gallatin, Hardin	40 min
Jul 18, 4:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Alexander	39 min
Jul 18, 4:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Lyon, Marshall	36 min
Jul 18, 4:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Caldwell	36 min
Jul 18, 4:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Calloway	52 min
Jul 18, 4:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Trigg	50 min
Jul 18, 5:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Fulton	21 min
Jul 18, 2:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Perry	63 min
Jul 18, 3:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Cape Girardeau	68 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 2001 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2001

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.