Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Paducah, KY

August 18, 2001Jefferson County, Illinois

NWS Paducah, KY issued this tornado warning at Aug 18, 2001, 5:53 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Illinois. It was in force for 37 min. 4 reports 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: Aug 18, 2001, 5:53 PM CDT (22:53 UTC)
Expired: Aug 18, 2001, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Paducah, KY
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Jefferson County, IL

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 18, 5:55 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Waltonville, IL	Golf-ball size hail occurred in and near Waltonville in association with a severe supercell thunderstorm.
Aug 18, 5:55 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 65 E	Waltonville, IL	A supercell thunderstorm tracked east-southeast across southern Jefferson County. The greatest concentration of sporadic wind damage was oriented in a 4-mile long swath through Waltonville. Several large trees and tree limbs were downed. Two barns and one car
Aug 18, 6:02 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Waltonville, IL	A supercell thunderstorm tracked east-southeast across southern Jefferson County. The storm produced a weak tornado that lasted for less than a minute. Evidence of the tornado consisted of damage to a corn field, strong rotation depicted on doppler radar, and
Aug 18, 6:23 PM CDT	Hail 1	Ina, IL	Quarter-size hail fell at the Ina exit of Interstate 57. This large hail was the last in a series of severe weather occurrences associated with a supercell thunderstorm that crossed southern Jefferson County.

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
Aug 18, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 215 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: 192 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -146 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1002 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

426 
WFUS53 KPAH 182253
TORPAH
ILC081-182330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY
553 PM CDT SAT AUG 18 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN JEFFERSON COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 552 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  TORNADO 5 MILES WEST OF WALTONVILLE...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE
  WALTONVILLE
  MASON
  INA

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 3834 8913 3814 8915 3813 8879 3825 8878

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 18, 5:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Jefferson	53 min
Aug 18, 6:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Franklin	43 min
Aug 18, 6:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PAH	Hamilton	50 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Illinois, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes 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.