Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2012

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 543

July 31, 201225 counties in Illinois; 22 counties in Indiana

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jul 31, 2012, 1:13 PM CDT for 25 counties in Illinois; 22 counties in Indiana. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 31, 2012, 1:13 PM CDT (18:13 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 47 counties

Champaign County, IL, Clark County, IL, Clay County, IL, Coles County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Cumberland County, IL, DeWitt County, IL, Douglas County, IL, Edgar County, IL, Effingham County, IL, Ford County, IL, Iroquois County, IL, Jasper County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Livingston County, IL, Logan County, IL, Macon County, IL, McLean County, IL, Moultrie County, IL, Piatt County, IL, Richland County, IL, Shelby County, IL, Tazewell County, IL, Vermilion County, IL, Woodford County, IL, Benton County, IN, Brown County, IN, Clay County, IN, Daviess County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Greene County, IN, Hendricks County, IN, Jackson County, IN, Knox County, IN, Lawrence County, IN, Martin County, IN, Monroe County, IN, Montgomery County, IN, Morgan County, IN, Owen County, IN, Parke County, IN, Putnam County, IN, Sullivan County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Vermillion County, IN, Vigo County, IN, Warren County, IN

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:16 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
20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
5%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 31, 2:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTFord22 min
Jul 31, 3:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDDaviess, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Owen40 min
Jul 31, 4:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDDaviess, Greene, Martin31 min
Jul 31, 4:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDDaviess25 min
Jul 31, 5:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDDaviess, Knox32 min
Jul 31, 5:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDDaviess, Knox16 min
Jul 31, 6:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDBartholomew, Brown, Johnson, Shelby50 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, 6.2 hours before the alert went out and 50 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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2012-07-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2241 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Lincoln, IL at 12:00Z on 2012-07-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 19 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
2241 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-70 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
958 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 31, 12:39 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLake, McHenry96 min
Jul 31, 12:11 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChampaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland and 16 more64 min
Jul 31, 3:35 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChampaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland and 16 more55 min
Jul 31, 6:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCrawford, Edwards, Jasper, Lawrence, Richland, Wabash and 1 more33 min
Jul 31, 4:10 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Crawford, Dubois, Floyd, Gibson, Harrison and 7 more65 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Illinois, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Indiana, 2012Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2012

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.