Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 86

April 4, 200332 counties in Illinois; 37 counties in Indiana

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 4, 2003, 2:35 PM CST for 32 counties in Illinois; 37 counties in Indiana. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 4, 2003, 2:35 PM CST (20:35 UTC)
Expired: Apr 4, 2003, 8:00 PM CST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 69 counties

Bond County, IL, Champaign County, IL, Christian County, IL, Clark County, IL, Clay County, IL, Clinton County, IL, Coles County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Cumberland County, IL, DeWitt County, IL, Douglas County, IL, Edgar County, IL, Effingham County, IL, Fayette County, IL, Ford County, IL, Iroquois County, IL, Jasper County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Livingston County, IL, Logan County, IL, Macon County, IL, Marion County, IL, Marshall County, IL, McLean County, IL, Montgomery County, IL, Moultrie County, IL, Piatt County, IL, Richland County, IL, Shelby County, IL, Tazewell County, IL, Vermilion County, IL, Woodford County, IL, Bartholomew County, IN, Benton County, IN, Boone County, IN, Brown County, IN, Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, Clay County, IN, Clinton County, IN, Daviess County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Greene County, IN, Hamilton County, IN, Hendricks County, IN, Howard County, IN, Jackson County, IN, Johnson County, IN, Knox County, IN, Lawrence County, IN, Marion County, IN, Martin County, IN, Miami County, IN, Monroe County, IN, Montgomery County, IN, Morgan County, IN, Newton County, IN, Orange County, IN, Owen County, IN, Parke County, IN, Putnam County, IN, Sullivan County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Tipton County, IN, Vermillion County, IN, Vigo County, IN, Warren County, IN, Washington County, IN, White County, IN

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:39 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.

Warnings issued inside it

11 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 6:06 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Champaign, Douglas, Edgar, Vermilion	54 min
Apr 4, 6:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko, Miami, Wabash	50 min
Apr 4, 6:18 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LSX	Fayette	27 min
Apr 4, 6:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	LSX	Fayette, Marion	26 min
Apr 4, 6:32 PM CST	Tornado Warning	ILX	Clay, Effingham	43 min
Apr 4, 6:44 PM CST	Tornado Warning	ILX	Edgar, Vermilion	46 min
Apr 4, 7:04 PM CST	Tornado Warning	ILX	Jasper, Richland	56 min
Apr 4, 7:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Clay	48 min
Apr 4, 7:31 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Crawford	59 min
Apr 4, 7:37 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Lawrence	53 min
Apr 4, 7:55 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Knox, Sullivan	35 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 8.6 hours before the alert went out and 49 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: 60 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 622 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 042033
SEL6
SPC WW 042035
ILZ000-INZ000-050200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 86
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
235 PM CST FRI APR 4 2003

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   CENTRAL ILLINOIS                           
   MUCH OF INDIANA                            

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 235 PM UNTIL 800
PM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES WEST OF DECATUR ILLINOIS TO 25 MILES
EAST OF INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 85...

DISCUSSION...SEVERE/SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO INCREASE
OVER EAST CENTRAL MO AND WESTERN IL...AHEAD OF VIGOROUS UPPER
TROUGH.  THIS ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN SEVERE AND TRACK
EASTWARD INTO IND DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.  STEEP LAPSE RATES
AND SUPERCELL STRUCTURES WILL AID IN LARGE HAIL/DAMAGING WIND
THREAT.  STRONG LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND FAVORABLE LOW LEVEL T-TD
SPREADS WILL ALSO ENHANCE THE POTENTIAL FOR TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.

...HART

410,0893 405,0854 382,0854 383,0893

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 4, 7:23 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign and 55 more	97 min
Apr 4, 9:47 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar and 9 more	58 min
Apr 4, 11:10 AM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bond, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Clinton and 24 more	95 min
Apr 4, 12:05 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Jersey and 10 more	5 hr
Apr 4, 1:12 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian and 35 more	93 min
Apr 4, 1:29 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bureau, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane and 8 more	91 min
Apr 4, 3:10 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bond, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Coles, Cumberland and 25 more	2 hr
Apr 4, 4:25 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alexander, Bond, Clay, Clinton, Edwards, Franklin and 24 more	6 hr
Apr 4, 5:11 PM CST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bond, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton and 24 more	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2003 Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2003 Every tornado watch 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.