Alert archive / Illinois / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2026
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 206, NWS Lincoln, IL
NWS Lincoln, IL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 16, 2026, 4:45 PM CDT for Clay County, Illinois. It was in force for 45 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 16, 2026, 4:45 PM CDT (21:45 UTC)
- Expired
- May 16, 2026, 5:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Lincoln, IL
- Area
- Storm-based polygon
- Tornado
- Possible
- Hail
- 1.0 in
- Wind
- 60.0 mph
County Clay County, IL
The radar
The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:48 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 3:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 4 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 156 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
- 351 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -69 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1001 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -79 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 2 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- -0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.3
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 16, 2:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 16, 2:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 55 minutes before
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</html>Hazardous weather outlook, May 16, 2:24 PM CDT, 2 hours 21 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 16, 3:15 PM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before
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</html>The office that day
Everything else NWS Lincoln, IL issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 4:40 AM CDT | Special Weather Statement | ILX | Stark | 20 min |
| May 16, 4:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Knox, Stark | 33 min |
| May 16, 4:58 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Marshall | 51 min |
| May 16, 7:46 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Crawford, Lawrence | 29 min |
| May 16, 3:15 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | ILX | Lawrence | 30 min |
| May 16, 3:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Lawrence | 28 min |
| May 16, 3:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Crawford, Lawrence | 30 min |
| May 16, 4:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Clay, Effingham | 47 min |
| May 16, 5:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Clay, Jasper, Richland | 44 min |
| May 16, 5:55 PM CDT | Special Weather Statement | ILX | Crawford, Lawrence | 50 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Illinois, 2026Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2026
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.