Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Watches in 2004
Tornado Watch 339
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 30, 2004, 4:25 PM CDT for 18 counties in Illinois; 5 counties in Indiana; 14 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 30, 2004, 4:25 PM CDT (21:25 UTC)
- Expired
- May 30, 2004, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 37 counties
Boone County, IL, Cook County, IL, DeKalb County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Grundy County, IL, Iroquois County, IL, Kane County, IL, Kankakee County, IL, Kendall County, IL, Lake County, IL, LaSalle County, IL, Lee County, IL, Livingston County, IL, McHenry County, IL, Ogle County, IL, Stephenson County, IL, Will County, IL, Winnebago County, IL, Jasper County, IN, Lake County, IN, Newton County, IN, Porter County, IN, White County, IN, Columbia County, WI, Dane County, WI, Dodge County, WI, Green County, WI, Jefferson County, WI, Kenosha County, WI, Milwaukee County, WI, Ozaukee County, WI, Racine County, WI, Rock County, WI, Sauk County, WI, Walworth County, WI, Washington County, WI, Waukesha County, WI
The radar
The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 62 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:28 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
26 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 30, 4:25 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Ford, Livingston | 50 min |
| May 30, 4:38 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Iroquois | 52 min |
| May 30, 5:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Jasper, Newton, Porter | 45 min |
| May 30, 5:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Livingston | 67 min |
| May 30, 5:25 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Iroquois | 50 min |
| May 30, 5:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | LaSalle, Lee | 59 min |
| May 30, 5:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Jasper | 48 min |
| May 30, 6:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | LaSalle | 34 min |
| May 30, 6:18 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Jasper | 42 min |
| May 30, 6:19 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Livingston | 11 min |
| May 30, 6:24 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Grundy | 66 min |
| May 30, 6:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Livingston | 59 min |
| May 30, 6:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kane, Kendall | 51 min |
| May 30, 6:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kankakee, Will | 34 min |
| May 30, 6:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | DuPage | 40 min |
| May 30, 6:54 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Newton | 51 min |
| May 30, 7:03 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LOT | Jasper, Newton | 117 min |
| May 30, 7:04 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Cook, Lake | 56 min |
| May 30, 7:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Kankakee, Will | 51 min |
| May 30, 7:14 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | LOT | Jasper | 46 min |
| May 30, 7:16 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LOT | Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall and 3 more | 119 min |
| May 30, 7:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | McHenry | 44 min |
| May 30, 7:28 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LOT | Benton, Jasper, Lake, Newton, Porter | 2 hr |
| May 30, 7:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Lake, Porter | 49 min |
| May 30, 8:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IWX | White | 45 min |
| May 30, 8:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Jasper | 30 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
Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 227 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 843 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 142 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 145 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WWUS20 KWNS 302124 SEL9 SPC WW 302125 ILZ000-INZ000-WIZ000-LMZ000-310300- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 339 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 425 PM CDT SUN MAY 30 2004 CORRECTED FOR WORDING THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF ILLINOIS INDIANA WISCONSIN LAKE MICHIGAN EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 425 PM UNTIL 1000 PM CDT. ...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION... DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE 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 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF MADISON WISCONSIN TO 65 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MARSEILLES 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 330...WW 331...WW 332...WW 333...WW 334...WW 335...WW 336...WW 337...WW 338...WW 339... DISCUSSION... 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 24025. ...EVANS 433,0875 404,0864 404,0885 433,0901
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 30, 7:40 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Brown, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Coles and 31 more | 5 hr |
| May 30, 9:40 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Hancock and 6 more | 3 hr |
| May 30, 10:04 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Clay, Clinton, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin and 19 more | 2 hr |
| May 30, 10:50 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Brown, Hancock, McDonough, Pike | 8 hr |
| May 30, 11:04 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Champaign, Cook, DeWitt, Douglas, DuPage, Iroquois and 4 more | 116 min |
| May 30, 11:50 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clark, Crawford, Edgar, Edwards, Gallatin, Hardin and 7 more | 7 hr |
| May 30, 12:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Carroll, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Knox and 4 more | 2 hr |
| May 30, 12:25 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bureau, Carroll, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Knox and 8 more | 7 hr |
| May 30, 12:53 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian, Fulton and 13 more | 2 hr |
| May 30, 1:05 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alexander, Bond, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian and 45 more | 6 hr |
| May 30, 3:16 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, DuPage and 29 more | 119 min |
| May 30, 5:10 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Bond, Clinton, Fayette, Jackson, Madison and 7 more | 95 min |
| May 30, 5:36 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cass, Champaign, Christian and 39 more | 54 min |
| May 30, 6:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alexander, Bond, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay and 41 more | 6 hr |
| May 30, 6:55 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Gallatin, Hardin, Lawrence, Wabash | 8 hr |
| May 30, 3:05 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Clark, Crawford and 47 more | 115 min |
| May 30, 3:55 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Dearborn, Ohio, Switzerland, Union, Wayne | 5 hr |
| May 30, 2:45 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Buffalo, Dunn, La Crosse, Pepin, Pierce, Saint Croix and 2 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2004Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2004Tornado Watches in Indiana, 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.