Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 103, NWS Chicago, IL

July 9, 2003Ford County, Illinois

NWS Chicago, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 9, 2003, 5:15 PM CDT for Ford County, Illinois. It was in force for 30 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jul 9, 2003, 5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)
Expired: Jul 9, 2003, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Chicago, IL
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Ford County, IL

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 107 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:17 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 59 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: 279 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -182 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 874 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 116 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 106 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 9, 3:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 9, 3:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
330 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2003

PUBLIC DISCUSSION FOR PM ZONES/GRIDS...

LATEST BATCH OF SHRA/TSRA E OF I-55. NRN PORTION MOVG E AT
50...WHILE STRONGER SRN PORTION MOVG E AT 30 CLOSER TO BOUNDARY.
WILL BE EXITING SERN COUNTIES DURG LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVE AS
LEAD SHORT WAVE TROF CONTS E INTO IN. NEXT ROUND DEVELOPING OVER IA.
CONT DVLPMNT EXPECTED INTO NRN IL AS LOW LEVEL FLO BACKS WITH
ENHANCED CONVERGENCE/LIFT ALONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING FM E
CNTRL IA SEWRD ACROSS N HALF OF IL INTO W CNTRL IND IN RESPONSE TO
MAIN SHORT WAVE TROF MN/IA/MO ROTATING ACROSS MID MS VALLEY DURG
EVE. TROF AND AND ASSOCIATED CDFNT CONTS THRU CFA OVERNIGHT AND
EARLY THU. THIS SHUD TURN OFF TAP FOR A BIT WITH ANY SIG CHC OF SHRA
CONFINED TO N OF IL STATE LN ON THU...CLOSER TO CENTER OF MID LEVEL
LOW.  CHC OF THUNDERSHOWERS FRI AFTERNOON INTO EVE AND AGAIN SAT
AFTERNOON INTO EVE WITH DAYTIME HEATING AND MINOR IMPULSES DROPPING
SE INTO UPR TROF AXIS AS UPR LOW SLOWLY TRACKS ACROSS ONTARIO INTO
QUEBEC.

.CHI...NONE.
TRS

AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 18Z TAFS

MAIN CONCERN IS BAND OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH
NORTHEAST ILLINOIS ATTM. THERE HAVE BEEN REPORTS OF WIND GUSTS 30 TO
40 KNOTS...ESPECAILLY WITH THE SOUTH END OF THIS LINE...AND ALSO
SMALL HAIL. WILL HAVE THUNDER WITH GUSTY WEST WINDS IN
ORD...MDW...GYY FOR THE NEXT 1-2 HOURS...FOLLOWED BY A PERIOD OF
SHOWERS AND MVFR CIGS. THE BRUNT OF THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD
BE CLOSER TO THE STATIONARY FRONT SOUTH OF THE CHICAGO TERMINALS
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. AS SURFACE LOW AND WARM FRONT APPROACHES
LATER TONIGHT...COULD GET A PERIOD OF THUNDERSTORMS AROUND MIDNIGHT
OR SO. THEN COLD FRONT COMES THROUGH BY MRONING WITH GOOD DRY PUNCH
WHICH SHOULD END THUNDERSTORM THREAT. WINDS WILL BE LIGHT EAST TODAY
BECOMING LIGHT SOUTHEAST TONIGHT...THEN TURNING SSW BRIEFLY BEHIND
WARM FRONT...THEN WEST BEHIND COLD FRONT.

ALLSOPP

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 9, 5:00 PM CDT, 15 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 9, 11:56 AM CDT, 5 hours 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1156 AM CDT WED JUL 09 2003

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

1146 AM    SANDWICH                  IL   62 MPH TSTM GUST
07/09/03   DEKALB                         REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
                                          MANAGEMENT.

Local storm report, Jul 9, 2:06 PM CDT, 3 hours 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
206 PM CDT WED JUL 09 2003

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

0153 PM    FOWLER                    IN   FLOOD
07/09/03   BENTON                         0.80 INCHES OF RAIN IN
                                          5 MINUTES. REPORTED BY
                                          EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.

Local storm report, Jul 9, 2:26 PM CDT, 2 hours 49 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
226 PM CDT WED JUL 09 2003

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

0210 PM    RENSSELAER                IN   FLOOD
07/09/03   JASPER                         A NUMBER OF STREETS
                                          CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING.
                                          8.41 INCHES OF RAIN
                                          FROM THE MORNING OF THE
                                          4TH TO THE MORNING OF
                                          THE 8TH. REPORTED BY
                                          COOPERATIVE OBSERVER.

Special weather statement, Jul 9, 4:30 PM CDT, 45 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 9, 4:42 PM CDT, 33 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jul 9, 5:07 PM CDT, 8 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 9, 12:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Ford	48 min
Jul 9, 3:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Iroquois	48 min
Jul 9, 4:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Ford, Livingston	44 min
Jul 9, 2:35 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LOT	Benton, Jasper, Newton	4 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.