Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 964
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Dec 27, 2008, 12:45 PM CST for 12 counties in Illinois; 14 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Dec 27, 2008, 12:45 PM CST (18:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Dec 27, 2008, 5:42 PM CST
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 26 counties
Bond County, IL, Clinton County, IL, Fayette County, IL, Jersey County, IL, Macoupin County, IL, Madison County, IL, Marion County, IL, Monroe County, IL, Montgomery County, IL, Randolph County, IL, Saint Clair County, IL, Washington County, IL, City of Saint Louis, MO, Crawford County, MO, Franklin County, MO, Gasconade County, MO, Iron County, MO, Jefferson County, MO, Madison County, MO, Reynolds County, MO, Saint Charles County, MO, Saint Francois County, MO, Saint Louis County, MO, Sainte Genevieve County, MO, Warren County, MO, Washington County, MO
The radar
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 34 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:02 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.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 50%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 40%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 10%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 5%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 27, 12:53 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Franklin, Jefferson, Saint Charles, Saint Louis, Warren, Washington | 37 min |
| Dec 27, 1:06 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Monroe, Saint Clair | 54 min |
| Dec 27, 1:37 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Bond, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe and 2 more | 53 min |
| Dec 27, 4:09 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LSX | Randolph, Saint Clair, Washington | 51 min |
| Dec 27, 4:34 PM CST | Tornado Warning | LSX | Clinton, Marion, Washington | 41 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, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 218 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
- 87 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -128 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 538 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 451 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 455 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
173
WWUS20 KWNS 271841
SEL4
SPC WW 271841
ILZ000-MOZ000-280100-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 964
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1245 PM CST SAT DEC 27 2008
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
WESTERN ILLINOIS
EASTERN MISSOURI
EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 1245 PM UNTIL
700 PM CST.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 60 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES NORTHEAST OF ALTON
ILLINOIS TO 45 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF FARMINGTON MISSOURI. FOR
A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU4).
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 960...WW 961...WW
962...WW 963...
DISCUSSION...RETRANSMISSION OF TORNADO WATCH FOR THIS THREAT AREA
FROM WW 962.
NARROW LINE OF STORMS WITH EMBEDDED AND PRECEDING SUPERCELLS WILL
CONTINUE TO POSE WIND DAMAGE AND ISOLATED TORNADO THREAT ACROSS THIS
REGION FOR SEVERAL MORE HOURS.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 400.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22050.
...EVANSSPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 26, 11:15 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Fulton, Hancock, Henderson, Knox and 6 more | 90 min |
| Dec 27, 1:35 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian and 26 more | 7 hr |
| Dec 27, 4:30 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Clinton, Fayette and 11 more | 8 hr |
| Dec 27, 8:03 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey and 8 more | 117 min |
| Dec 27, 8:48 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cass, Christian, DeWitt, Fulton, Knox, Logan and 9 more | 27 min |
| Dec 27, 9:34 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jackson, Jersey and 8 more | 56 min |
| Dec 27, 10:26 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Alexander, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass and 45 more | 94 min |
| Dec 27, 10:58 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian and 43 more | 8 hr |
| Dec 27, 11:46 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bureau, Calhoun, Cass, Christian, DeKalb, DeWitt and 32 more | 89 min |
| Dec 27, 12:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois and 6 more | 4 hr |
| Dec 27, 1:52 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin and 13 more | 5 hr |
| Dec 27, 1:54 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bond, Champaign, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton and 29 more | 2 hr |
| Dec 27, 3:46 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Crawford and 27 more | 89 min |
| Dec 27, 5:06 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Crawford, Edwards, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Johnson and 10 more | 84 min |
| Dec 26, 6:47 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barton, Bates, Buchanan, Cass, Clay, Jackson and 5 more | 58 min |
| Dec 26, 9:05 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barry, McDonald, Newton | 85 min |
| Dec 26, 9:51 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bates, Buchanan, Caldwell, Carroll, Cass, Chariton and 13 more | 7 hr |
| Dec 27, 12:03 AM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Audrain, Barry, Barton, Benton, Boone, Callaway and 40 more | 7 hr |
| Dec 27, 3:32 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barry, Barton, Bates, Benton, Boone, Callaway and 51 more | 88 min |
| Dec 27, 9:41 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adair, Caldwell, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton and 12 more | 3 hr |
| Dec 27, 1:20 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Dunklin, Pemiscot | 25 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2008Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2008Every tornado watch in 2008
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.