Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 508

July 11, 202514 counties in Illinois; 11 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 11, 2025, 4:51 PM CDT for 14 counties in Illinois; 11 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 11, 2025, 4:51 PM CDT (21:51 UTC)
Expired
Jul 11, 2025, 9:28 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
65 kt
All 25 counties

Boone County, IL, Cook County, IL, DeKalb County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Grundy County, IL, Kane County, IL, Kendall County, IL, Lake County, IL, LaSalle County, IL, Lee County, IL, McHenry County, IL, Ogle County, IL, Will County, IL, Winnebago County, IL, Dane County, WI, Green County, WI, Iowa County, WI, Jefferson County, WI, Kenosha County, WI, Lafayette County, WI, Milwaukee County, WI, Racine County, WI, Rock County, WI, Walworth County, WI, Waukesha County, WI

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:50 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
70%
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
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 11, 4:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXDane, Green50 min
Jul 11, 5:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMKXGreen, Lafayette42 min
Jul 11, 5:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXIowa39 min
Jul 11, 5:16 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMKXDane, Green, Iowa, Lafayette3 hr
Jul 11, 5:31 PM CDTTornado WarningMKXLafayette32 min
Jul 11, 5:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMKXDane, Green, Iowa, Lafayette51 min
Jul 11, 5:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threatMKXGreen, Lafayette49 min
Jul 11, 5:44 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningMKXLafayette3 hr
Jul 11, 5:47 PM CDTTornado WarningMKXGreen, Lafayette43 min
Jul 11, 5:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTOgle, Winnebago76 min
Jul 11, 6:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threatMKXRock38 min
Jul 11, 6:16 PM CDTTornado WarningMKXGreen, Rock29 min
Jul 11, 6:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threatMKXGreen38 min
Jul 11, 6:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXGreen24 min
Jul 11, 6:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMKXDane, Jefferson45 min
Jul 11, 6:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMKXDane, Green41 min
Jul 11, 6:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threatMKXRock52 min
Jul 11, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXDane51 min
Jul 11, 6:40 PM CDTFlash Flood Warning Considerable damage threatMKXDane, Green, Iowa, Lafayette3 hr
Jul 11, 6:42 PM CDTTornado WarningMKXDane, Jefferson, Rock48 min
Jul 11, 6:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXDane44 min
Jul 11, 6:56 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTLee45 min
Jul 11, 7:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMKXJefferson, Walworth, Waukesha45 min
Jul 11, 7:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatMKXDodge, Jefferson, Waukesha48 min
Jul 11, 7:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXRock17 min
Jul 11, 7:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXDodge, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha27 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

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 174 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2025-07-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 100 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2025-07-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -53 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
100 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-206 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1159 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 10, 10:36 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBureau, Ford, Grundy, Henry, Kankakee, LaSalle and 6 more114 min
Jul 11, 12:44 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCMercer, Rock Island91 min
Jul 11, 1:17 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCHenderson, Mercer, Rock Island, Warren3 hr
Jul 11, 2:43 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCMercer, Rock Island92 min
Jul 11, 12:18 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Bureau, Carroll, Fulton, Hancock, Henderson and 14 more87 min
Jul 11, 12:54 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBureau, Carroll, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess and 7 more7 hr
Jul 11, 2:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Brown, Cass, Greene, Morgan, Pike and 1 more89 min
Jul 11, 2:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdams, Brown, Pike8 hr
Jul 11, 3:53 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBoone, Bureau, Carroll, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess and 8 more97 min
Jul 11, 5:57 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBoone, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Lake, Lee and 3 more2 hr
Jul 11, 1:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCrawford, Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette and 3 more7 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2025Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2025Every 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.