Alert archive / Illinois / Blizzard Watches in 2011

Blizzard Watch 1, NWS Chicago, IL

January 30, 201116 counties in Illinois; 5 counties in Indiana

NWS Chicago, IL issued this blizzard watch at Jan 30, 2011, 11:34 AM CST for 16 counties in Illinois; 5 counties in Indiana. It took effect at Feb 1, 2011, 12:00 PM CST. It was in force for .

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jan 30, 2011, 11:34 AM CST (17:34 UTC)
In effect from
Feb 1, 2011, 12:00 PM CST
Expired
Jan 31, 2011, 3:20 PM CST
In force
Issued by
NWS Chicago, IL
All 21 counties

Boone County, IL, DeKalb County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Ford 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, Winnebago County, IL, Benton County, IN, Jasper County, IN, Lake County, IN, Newton County, IN, Porter County, IN

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 15 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:34 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 nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 329 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 2011-01-30Temperature 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, Green Bay/Straub, WI at 12:00Z on 2011-01-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -141 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
1097 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-31 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 blizzard watch 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 blizzard watch went out at Jan 30, 9:24 AM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 30, 9:24 AM CST, 2 hours 10 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 30, 8:24 AM CST, 3 hours 10 minutes before
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<html lang="en">
<head>
  <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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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jan 30, 5:26 AM CSTWinter Storm WatchLOTBoone, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois and 10 more6 hr
Jan 30, 3:10 PM CSTGale WatchLOT36 hr
Jan 30, 3:10 PM CSTSmall Craft AdvisoryLOT47 hr

Nearby

Blizzard Watches in Illinois, 2011Blizzard Watches in Indiana, 2011Every blizzard watch in 2011

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.