Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 26, NWS Chicago, IL

May 9, 2003LaSalle County, Illinois

NWS Chicago, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 2003, 11:47 PM CDT for LaSalle 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
May 9, 2003, 11:47 PM CDT (04:47 UTC)
Expired
May 10, 2003, 12:15 AM CDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Chicago, IL
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County LaSalle County, IL

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:49 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 9, 10:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 4.8 hours before the alert went out and 138 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2003-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Davenport, at 00:00Z on 2003-05-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 84 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1901 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
207 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 May 9, 6:45 PM CDT, 5 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 6:45 PM CDT, 5 hours 2 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
645 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 2003

AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 00Z TAFS

DRIER AIR RAPDILY MOVING INTO N IL SO BELIEVE TS NOW IN CENTRAL IL
WILL STAY THERE. SO TAFS DRY. COULD BE SOMETHING AT SUNRISE AND
MIDDAY TOMORROW DEPENDING ON WHICH MODEL LOOK AT BUT ALL VERY
NEBULOUS SO NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH AT THIS T5IME TO CARRY A PROB
GROUP. BEST BET LOOKS LIKE LATE AFTERNOON WHEN MAJOR SVR WX EPISODE
EXPLODES OVER AREA.

GUSTY SW WINDS TO QUICKLY DIE THIS EVE AS MIXING ENDS AND GO
VARIABLE BY MIDNIGHT AS WEAK FRONT IN AREA. WINDS GO SE AHEAD OF
APPROACHING LOW TOMORROW AFTERNOON.

AF

DISCUSSION FOR 330PM ZONES...

WARM FRONT HAS MOVED NORTH OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON WITH WARM
MOIST AIRMASS BEGINNING TO MOVE NORTH IN TO THE FORECAST AREA
HELPING SET STAGE FOR MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER SATURDAY
AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

WEATHER OF CONCERN TONIGHT WILL OCCUR AS SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH
UPPER FLOW AND ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTION OF AREA. QPF SUGGEST THERE
MAY BE SOME HEAVY RAIN ASSOCIATED BUT FOCUS REMAINS TO THE SOUTH OF
CWA.

THROUGH CHANCE OF TRW LINGERS INTO MORNING HOURS THERE SHOULD BE A
BRIEF BREAK BEFORE ATMOSPHERE GETS READY FOR AFTERNOON ACTIVITY.
SYSTEM APPEARS TO HAVE GOOD LARGE SCALE SUPPORT WITH SHARPENING
UPPER TROF OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS AND DEEPEING SURFACE LOW OVER
MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. MODELS PLACE LOW VCNTY UIN AT 00Z. SURFACE
LOW MOVES TO NORTHEAST WITH COLD FRONT BEDING SWEPT ACROSS CWA.
THOUGH SOME THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP IN UNSTABLE AIMRASS DURING
AFTERNOON HEAVIER ACTIVITY SHOULD OCCUR AS LINE OF
THUNDERSTORMS/SQALL LINE DEVELOPS AHEAD OF FRONT DURING AFTERNOON
AND MOVES ACROSS AREA. ACTIVITY APPEARS TO BE CONFINED TO AFTERNOON
AND EVENING HOURS WITH THREAT DECREASING AFTER 06Z. CWA APPEARS IN
DRY SLOT OVERNIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING THEN WRAP AROUND BRINGS
LINGERING THREAT OF SHOWERS AS UPPER LOW IS SLOW TO MOVE OFF TO EAST.

.CHI..NONE
Hazardous weather outlook, May 9, 7:25 PM CDT, 4 hours 22 minutes before
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019-020>023-032-033-039-INZ001-002-010-011-
019-101100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK....UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
725 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST
ILLINOIS...NORTHWEST INDIANA...AND THE ADJACENT WATERS OF LAKE
MICHIGAN.

.DAY ONE... TONIGHT

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR BENTON COUNTY TIL 1100
PM TONIGHT. STORMS MOVING NORTHEAST FROM CENTRAL ILLINOIS WILL SLIP
NORTH OF INTERSTATE 74 AND MOVE IN AND AROUND BENTON COUNTY TONIGHT.

ELSEWHERE THERE IS REMAINS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
OVER THE OUTLOOK AREA OVERNIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP IN OUR
WARM UNSTABLE AIRMASS AND SPREAD OVER THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA. THE
MAIN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HOWEVER SHOULD BE GENERALLY SOUTH OF
INTERSTATE 80. THE THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING WINDS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER SATURDAY.

A VERY STRONG SURFACE LOW WILL MOVE FROM EASTERN KANSAS TO WISCONSIN
AND DEEPEN RAPIDLY DURING THE DAY. WARM...HUMID...UNSTABLE AIR WILL
BE IN PLACE ACROSS NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA AS THE
LOW MOVES THROUGH THE AREA. A BAND OF SEVERE STORMS IS EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP DURING THE AFTERNOON ALONG A COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THE
SURFACE LOW IN WESTERN ILLINOIS AND MOVE RAPIDLY EAST ACROSS THE
OUTLOOK AREA FROM MID AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. THIS
SETUP FAVORS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH
WIDESPREAD DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL. THE POSSIBILITY EXISTS THAT
CONDITIONS WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOME TORNADOES
ALSO.

THIS STORM SYSTEM IS POTENTIALLY VERY DANGEROUS. YOU SHOULD PREPARE
FOR SEVERE WEATHER ON SATURDAY AND HAVE YOUR EMERGENCY PLANS IN
MIND.

IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE STORM POTENTIAL...FLOODING HAZARDS ARE
ALSO POSSIBLE FROM THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS THAT WILL ACCOMPANY
THESE STRONG STORMS. THE RECENT RAINS HAVE CAUSED RIVERS ACROSS
NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA TO SUFFER SIGNIFICANT
RISES. SOME OF THESE RIVERS ARE FORECAST TO RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...WITH MINOR TO MODERATE FLOODING EXPECTED.

THESE RECENT RAINS HAVE SATURATED SOILS IN MANY AREAS WITH GROUND
WATER. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINS WILL PROBABLY CAUSE LOCALIZED FLOODING
OF ROADWAYS AND THE USUAL LOW LYING FLOOD-PRONE AREAS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS ARE NEEDED ACROSS BENTON COUNTY THIS EVENING AND MAY BE
NEEDED IN THE REMAINING AREAS SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80 AFTER
MIDNIGHT.  SPOTTERS WILL BE NEEDED  THROUGHOUT THE OUTLOOK AREA
SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT.

&&

           NWS CHICAGO WEBPAGE

    HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/LOT (LOWER CASE)
OR  HTTP://WEATHER.NOAA.GOV/CHICAGO (LOWER CASE)

RLB

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 9, 9:43 PM CDT, 2 hours 4 minutes before
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Local storm report, May 9, 9:48 PM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before
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<html lang="en">
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  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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Local storm report, May 9, 11:00 PM CDT, 47 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1100 PM CDT FRI MAY 09 2003

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

0945 PM    BONFIELD                  IL   .75 INCH HAIL
05/09/03   KANKAKEE                       REPORTED BY COOPERATIVE
                                          OBSERVER.
Local storm report, May 9, 11:26 PM CDT, 21 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1126 PM CDT FRI MAY 09 2003

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

1118 PM    ST CHARLES                IL   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/09/03   KANE                           KIRK AND NORTH AVENUE
Local storm report, May 9, 11:30 PM CDT, 17 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1130 PM CDT FRI MAY 09 2003

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

1118 PM    BATAVIA                   IL   1.25 INCH HAIL
05/09/03   KANE                           ORCHARD RH AND I88.
                                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.
Local storm report, May 9, 11:34 PM CDT, 13 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
1134 PM CDT FRI MAY 09 2003

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

1129 PM    ST CHARLES                IL   1 INCH HAIL
05/09/03   KANE                           REPORTED BY OFF-DUTY
                                          NWS EMPLOYEE.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 9:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTLivingston55 min
May 9, 9:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTIroquois33 min
May 9, 9:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTIroquois, Kankakee55 min
May 9, 9:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTKankakee, Will47 min
May 9, 11:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTCook, DuPage, Kane37 min
May 9, 11:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTLee40 min
May 10, 12:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTDeKalb, Lee47 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.