Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Watches in 2014
Tornado Watch 13
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 20, 2014, 4:45 PM CST for 18 counties in Illinois; 15 counties in Indiana. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 20, 2014, 4:45 PM CST (22:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 20, 2014, 7:57 PM CST
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 33 counties
Champaign County, IL, Clark County, IL, Clay County, IL, Coles County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Cumberland County, IL, Douglas County, IL, Edgar County, IL, Effingham County, IL, Fayette County, IL, Jasper County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Marion County, IL, Moultrie County, IL, Piatt County, IL, Richland County, IL, Shelby County, IL, Vermilion County, IL, Clay County, IN, Daviess County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Greene County, IN, Knox County, IN, Martin County, IN, Montgomery 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), 120 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:45 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
- 50%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- 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
17 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 4:47 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ILX | Effingham, Moultrie, Shelby | 28 min |
| Feb 20, 5:06 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas, Edgar and 3 more | 54 min |
| Feb 20, 5:09 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LSX | Clinton, Fayette, Marion, Washington | 51 min |
| Feb 20, 5:12 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ILX | Coles, Douglas, Edgar | 33 min |
| Feb 20, 5:14 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ILX | Clark, Coles, Cumberland, Edgar | 31 min |
| Feb 20, 5:42 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | ILX | DeWitt, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, Shelby | 6 hr |
| Feb 20, 5:45 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ILX | Edgar, Vermilion | 30 min |
| Feb 20, 5:46 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IND | Fountain, Montgomery, Parke, Putnam, Vermillion, Vigo | 44 min |
| Feb 20, 5:48 PM CST | Flash Flood Warning | ILX | Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland and 7 more | 6 hr |
| Feb 20, 6:01 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Clark, Edgar | 14 min |
| Feb 20, 6:08 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IND | Clay, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Vigo | 52 min |
| Feb 20, 6:16 PM CST | Tornado Warning | IND | Daviess, Knox | 44 min |
| Feb 20, 6:25 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IND | Boone, Clinton, Fountain, Hendricks, Montgomery, Parke and 2 more | 50 min |
| Feb 20, 6:31 PM CST | Tornado Warning | IND | Parke | 29 min |
| Feb 20, 6:50 PM CST | Tornado Warning | IND | Daviess, Knox | 40 min |
| Feb 20, 7:10 PM CST | Tornado Warning | IND | Daviess, Greene, Martin | 35 min |
| Feb 20, 7:30 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IND | Brown, Greene, Jackson, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan and 1 more | 45 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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 82 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
- 507 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 582 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 576 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
521 WWUS20 KWNS 202246 SEL3 SPC WW 202246 ILZ000-INZ000-210300- URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 13 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 445 PM CST THU FEB 20 2014 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN ILLINOIS WESTERN INDIANA * EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 445 PM UNTIL 900 PM CST. * PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE... SEVERAL TORNADOES POSSIBLE SEVERAL DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 55 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF DANVILLE ILLINOIS TO 25 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MOUNT VERNON ILLINOIS. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU3). PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... 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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 12. WATCH NUMBER 12 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 445 PM CST. CONTINUE...WW 9...WW 10...WW 11... DISCUSSION...SFC PRESSURE FALLS AND 60 KT SSWLY NEAR-SFC FLOW SUGGEST THAT APPRECIABLE LOW-LVL AIR MASS RECOVERY WILL CONTINUE OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS AHEAD OF EXISTING BROKEN LINE OF SUPERCELLS IN CNTRL IL. CONTINUED DEEPENING OF ASSOCIATED SFC LOW NOW NEAR DVN...COUPLED WITH CONTINUED ENE MOTION OF STRONG MID-LVL SHORTWAVE IMPULSE...AND 700 MB SWLY WIND SPEEDS INCREASING TO AOA 70 KTS TOGETHER SUGGEST POTENTIAL FOR A COUPLE TORNADOES...IN ADDITION TO DMGG WIND. 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 450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24055. ...CORFIDI
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 20, 11:34 AM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin and 3 more | 116 min |
| Feb 20, 1:36 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Christian, Clinton and 15 more | 4 hr |
| Feb 20, 1:45 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Gallatin, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope and 5 more | 2 hr |
| Feb 20, 2:23 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin and 13 more | 7 hr |
| Feb 20, 3:23 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bond, Calhoun, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton and 25 more | 97 min |
| Feb 20, 3:50 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt and 11 more | 56 min |
| Feb 20, 5:29 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin and 14 more | 46 min |
| Feb 20, 5:45 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bartholomew, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Clark, Clinton and 36 more | 5 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2014Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2014Every tornado watch in 2014
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.