Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 200

April 30, 202530 counties in Illinois; 15 counties in Indiana; 7 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 30, 2025, 4:40 PM CDT for 30 counties in Illinois; 15 counties in Indiana; 7 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 30, 2025, 4:40 PM CDT (21:40 UTC)
Expired: Apr 30, 2025, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 52 counties

Bond County, IL, Calhoun County, IL, Christian County, IL, Clark County, IL, Clay County, IL, Clinton County, IL, Coles County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Cumberland County, IL, Edgar County, IL, Edwards County, IL, Effingham County, IL, Fayette County, IL, Greene County, IL, Jasper County, IL, Jefferson County, IL, Jersey County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Macoupin County, IL, Madison County, IL, Marion County, IL, Monroe County, IL, Montgomery County, IL, Moultrie County, IL, Richland County, IL, Saint Clair County, IL, Shelby County, IL, Wabash County, IL, Washington County, IL, Wayne County, IL, Bartholomew County, IN, Brown County, IN, Clay County, IN, Daviess County, IN, Decatur County, IN, Greene County, IN, Jackson County, IN, Jennings County, IN, Knox County, IN, Lawrence County, IN, Martin County, IN, Monroe County, IN, Owen County, IN, Sullivan County, IN, Vigo County, IN, City of Saint Louis, MO, Franklin County, MO, Jefferson County, MO, Lincoln County, MO, Saint Charles County, MO, Saint Louis County, MO, Warren County, MO

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 126 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:40 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: 40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

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
Apr 30, 5:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Daviess, Martin	49 min
Apr 30, 5:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Bond, Clinton, Madison	48 min
Apr 30, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Daviess, Martin	31 min
Apr 30, 5:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	IND	Daviess, Martin	24 min
Apr 30, 5:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	IND	Lawrence, Martin	32 min
Apr 30, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Lincoln, Saint Charles	22 min
Apr 30, 6:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Lawrence	51 min
Apr 30, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Fayette, Marion	45 min
Apr 30, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Jackson, Lawrence	48 min
Apr 30, 7:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Daviess, Martin	52 min
Apr 30, 7:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Fayette	27 min
Apr 30, 7:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Effingham	31 min
Apr 30, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Jackson, Jennings	46 min
Apr 30, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Jackson	47 min
Apr 30, 7:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Greene, Martin	28 min
Apr 30, 7:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Effingham, Shelby	33 min
Apr 30, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Montgomery	19 min
Apr 30, 7:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian	33 min
Apr 30, 7:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Jackson, Jennings	63 min
Apr 30, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Cumberland, Effingham, Shelby	47 min
Apr 30, 8:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian, Shelby	35 min
Apr 30, 8:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Crawford	14 min
Apr 30, 8:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Sullivan	28 min
Apr 30, 8:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	ILX	Coles, Cumberland	37 min
Apr 30, 9:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Clark, Crawford	48 min
Apr 30, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Coles, Douglas, Edgar	27 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, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 137 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 1539 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 30, 2:40 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Calhoun, Clay, Clinton, Edwards, Franklin, Hamilton and 15 more	2 hr
Apr 30, 6:30 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Randolph	90 min
Apr 30, 6:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Crawford, Cumberland, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper and 1 more	67 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2025 Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2025 Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2025 Every tornado watch in 2025

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.