Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Watches in 2004
Tornado Watch 261
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2004, 1:15 PM CDT for 22 counties in Illinois; Des Moines County, Lee County, Iowa; 19 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 23, 2004, 1:15 PM CDT (18:15 UTC)
- Expired
- May 23, 2004, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 43 counties
Des Moines County, IA, Lee County, IA, Adams County, IL, Brown County, IL, Calhoun County, IL, Cass County, IL, Fulton County, IL, Greene County, IL, Hancock County, IL, Henderson County, IL, Knox County, IL, Marshall County, IL, Mason County, IL, McDonough County, IL, Menard County, IL, Morgan County, IL, Peoria County, IL, Pike County, IL, Schuyler County, IL, Scott County, IL, Stark County, IL, Tazewell County, IL, Warren County, IL, Woodford County, IL, Audrain County, MO, Boone County, MO, Callaway County, MO, Clark County, MO, Cole County, MO, Cooper County, MO, Howard County, MO, Lewis County, MO, Lincoln County, MO, Marion County, MO, Moniteau County, MO, Monroe County, MO, Montgomery County, MO, Pike County, MO, Ralls County, MO, Randolph County, MO, Saint Charles County, MO, Shelby County, MO, Warren County, MO
The radar
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:15 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
12 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23, 2:53 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Boone | 37 min |
| May 23, 3:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Boone, Callaway, Cole | 38 min |
| May 23, 4:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Callaway, Osage | 49 min |
| May 23, 4:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Pike | 39 min |
| May 23, 4:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Franklin, Gasconade, Montgomery, Warren | 60 min |
| May 23, 5:06 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Scott | 54 min |
| May 23, 5:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Franklin, Saint Charles, Warren | 39 min |
| May 23, 5:42 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Morgan | 63 min |
| May 23, 6:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Franklin, Saint Charles, Saint Louis, City of Saint Louis | 49 min |
| May 23, 6:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Franklin, Saint Charles, Saint Louis, City of Saint Louis | 47 min |
| May 23, 6:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Franklin, Warren | 25 min |
| May 23, 6:43 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Morgan | 32 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, 6.3 hours before the alert went out and 253 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
- 435 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -95 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 621 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 18 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 59 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 231817
SEL1
SPC WW 231815
IAZ000-ILZ000-MOZ000-240000-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 261
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
115 PM CDT SUN MAY 23 2004
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
EXTREME SOUTHEAST IOWA
WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS
NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI
EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 115 PM UNTIL 700
PM CDT.
...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...
THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 10 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF JEFFERSON CITY MISSOURI
TO 35 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF PEORIA ILLINOIS.
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 259...WW 260...
DISCUSSION...AIRMASS OVER NORTHEAST MO AND WEST CENTRAL IL IS SLOWLY
DESTABILIZING AHEAD OF APPROACHING SURFACE COLD FRONT. SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO FORM ALONG THE FRONT AND TRACK
EASTWARD ACROSS CENTRAL IL THIS AFTERNOON. VERTICAL SHEAR PROFILES
AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE VALUES INDICATE THE POTENTIAL FOR TORNADIC
SUPERCELLS. POTENTIAL FOR A FEW STRONG TORNADOES EXISTS IF FURTHER
SURFACE HEATING CAN OCCUR THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25035.
...HART
382,0931 410,0911 410,0884 382,0905SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22, 8:58 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy and 23 more | 92 min |
| May 23, 12:24 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage and 32 more | 66 min |
| May 23, 12:40 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage and 27 more | 5 hr |
| May 23, 1:21 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Jersey and 6 more | 24 min |
| May 23, 1:40 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Brown, Cass, Fulton, Hancock, Logan and 8 more | 4 hr |
| May 23, 4:30 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Carroll, Cass and 44 more | 60 min |
| May 23, 10:45 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar and 19 more | 5 hr |
| May 23, 12:25 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass and 31 more | 95 min |
| May 23, 12:45 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar and 18 more | 2 hr |
| May 23, 2:05 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy and 18 more | 8 hr |
| May 23, 2:53 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Iroquois, Vermilion | 67 min |
| May 23, 3:50 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cook, DuPage, Iroquois, Kankakee, Vermilion, Will | 6 hr |
| May 23, 4:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Monroe | 5 hr |
| May 23, 5:00 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian and 28 more | 2 hr |
| May 23, 5:10 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy and 17 more | 95 min |
| May 23, 5:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bond, Calhoun, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton and 29 more | 6 hr |
| May 23, 6:30 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cook, DuPage, Iroquois, Kankakee, Vermilion, Will | 2 hr |
| May 22, 7:11 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Clarke, Dallas and 15 more | 94 min |
| May 22, 7:23 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Dallas, Fremont and 9 more | 67 min |
| May 22, 10:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Benton, Cedar, Clarke and 33 more | 5 hr |
| May 22, 11:33 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Adams, Appanoose, Benton, Cedar, Clarke and 33 more | 87 min |
| May 23, 2:21 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Appanoose, Buchanan, Cedar, Davis, Delaware, Des Moines and 14 more | 54 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2004Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2004Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2004Every tornado watch in 2004
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.