Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 161, NWS Chicago, IL
NWS Chicago, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 31, 2003, 6:17 PM CDT for Boone County, Illinois. It was in force for 28 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 31, 2003, 6:17 PM CDT (23:17 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 31, 2003, 6:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 28 min
- Issued by
- NWS Chicago, IL
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Boone County, IL
The radar
The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:20 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 5:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 159 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 51 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -90 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1404 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 35 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 61 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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 31, 2:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 2:30 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 230 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2003 PUBLIC DISCUSSION FOR AFTERNOON ZONES AND GRIDS... SHORT TERM...THROUGH 02/12Z MODELS IN EXCELLENT AGREEMENT ON UPPER LOW VICINITY LAKE OF THE WOODS TO WOBBLE VERY SLOWLY SOUTHEAST DURING THIS TIME WITH ANY NUMBER OF MINOR RIPPLES ROTATING AROUND IT AS IT DOES TO KEEP THINGS QUITE UNSETTLED. FOR THE VERY SHORT TERM VERY UNSTABLE SURFACE AIRMASS FROM CENTRAL WI TO CENTRAL IOWA HAS BEGUN TO ERUPT AS WEAK SURFACE CONVERGENCE IS HELPED BY APPROACHING MID LEVEL TROUGH. THIS SHOULD BRING SCATTERED THUNDER OVERSPREADING THE AREA BY AROUND MIDNIGHT. AFTER THIS EVENING, HAVE PUT LITTLE REFINEMENT IN TIMING OR AREAL DISTRIBUTION, EXCEPT THAT AS A RESULT OF FIRST 24-36 HOURS OF ACTIVITY, A BOUNDARY MAY TEND TO FOCUS ACTIVITY TO THE SOUTH BY FRIDAY NIGHT. LITTLE CHANGE TO GOING TEMPS WHICH ARE IN CLOSE AGREEMENT WITH THE VERY SIMILAR MOS #S. KAPLAN LONG TERM...AFTER 02/12Z UPPER LOW PROGGED TO MOVE FROM NEAR DULUTH AT 02/12Z TO TO SOUTHERN WISCONSIN BY 03/12Z...WITH THE GFS DEVELOPING A DUMBBELL LOW OVER LAKE SUPERIOR AT THIS TIME. LOWS THEN CONVERGE OVER THE NORTHERN END OF LAKE MICHIGAN BY THE END OF THE PERIOD. TIMING AND LOCATION ARE IN QUESTION...BUT MAIN RESULT OF THIS ACTION REMAINS THE SAME...UNSEASONABLY COOL TEMPERATURES ALOFT WITH PERSISTENT CYCLONIC FLOW. NOT COMPLETELY CONVINCED THAT CWFA WILL DRY OUT AFTER DUMBBELL FORMS AND CENTER OF CIRCULATION TRANSLATES BACK NORTH...BUT WILL LEAVE GRIDS DRY FROM TUESDAY ONWARD FOR THE TIME BEING. TEMPERATURES TO REMAIN AOB NORMALS THROUGH THE PERIOD. .CHI...NONE JHV AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 18Z TAF CYCLE DESTABILIZING LOWER ATMOSPHERE TO THE WEST AND NORTH WITH A FAIRLY GOOD SHORT WAVE APPROACHING FROM NORTHERN PLAINS. THIS HAS RESULTED IN INCREASING CONVECTION IN WESTERN WISCONSIN...TRAILING BACK INTO IOWA. GIVEN CONTINUED AFTERNOON HEATING EXPECT THIS ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY AND PROGRESS SOUTHEASTWARD. THUNDERSTORM THREAT MORE OF A CERTAINTY AT RFD THAN CHICAGO AREA TERMINALS SO HAVE GONE WITH A TEMP GROUP THERE. IF TSTORMS GET TO CHICAGO AREA BEST WINDOW WOULD SEEM TO BE 23-02Z TIME FRAME. HOWEVER CONFIDENCE AT THIS TIME NOT HIGH ENOUGH TO MERIT A TEMPO GROUP. HAVE LEFT THE LATE NIGHT PROB GROUP IN TERMINALS WITH ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE AS SURFACE TROUGH APPROACHES. KAPLAN
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 31, 4:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 47 minutes before
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019-020>023-032-033-039-INZ001-002-010-011-019
-011100-
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
430 PM CDT THU JUL 31 2003
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST
ILLINOIS...NORTHWEST INDIANA...AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF LAKE
MICHIGAN.
.DAY ONE... TONIGHT
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EXTREME
NORTHERN ILLINOIS THIS EVENING...MAINLY BETWEEN 500 PM AND
MIDNIGHT. THE SLIGHT RISK AREA IS GENERALLY ALONG AND NORTH OF A
LINE FROM DOWNTOWN CHICAGO TO PEORIA.
AN UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA WILL MOVE
VERY SLOWLY SOUTHEAST...WITH A SERIES OF DISTURBANCES ROTATING
AROUND THE MAIN SYSTEM. THE AIR AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM IS UNSTABLE
ENOUGH TO SUPPORT SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
AFTER MIDNIGHT...AS THE UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM MOVES CLOSER...
ADDITIONAL STORMS MAY DEVELOP...FORMING SHORT LINES. THESE LINES OF
STORMS MAY CONTAIN HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY
THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF THE
REGION FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS
AND HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS.
ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO
DEVELOP FROM TIME TO TIME AS THE PERSISTENT UPPER LEVEL WEATHER
SYSTEM REMAINS OVER THE UPPER MIDWEST. AT THIS TIME...THESE STORMS
ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE BRIEF GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL.
.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BECOME NECESSARY LATER THIS EVENING AND AGAIN
FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
&&
NWS CHICAGO WEBPAGE
HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/LOT (LOWER CASE)
OR HTTP://WEATHER.NOAA.GOV/CHICAGO (LOWER CASE)
MERZLOCKIn the hours before
Local storm report, Jul 31, 5:56 PM CDT, 21 minutes before
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</html>Local storm report, Jul 31, 5:58 PM CDT, 19 minutes before
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<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
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</html>The office that day
Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 5:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Boone, Winnebago | 42 min |
| Jul 31, 6:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Ogle | 64 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 2003Every 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.