Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Warnings in 2026

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Chicago, IL

April 3, 2026Benton County, Indiana

NWS Chicago, IL issued this tornado warning at Apr 3, 2026, 5:39 PM EDT for Benton County, Indiana. It was in force for 21 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: Apr 3, 2026, 5:39 PM EDT (21:39 UTC)
Expired: Apr 3, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
In force: 21 min
Issued by: NWS Chicago, IL
Area: Storm-based polygon
Tornado: Radar indicated
Hail: 0.0 in

County Benton County, IN

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 129 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:41 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 nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 120 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: 1023 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 172 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 229 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Apr 3, 3:25 PM EDT, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 3, 3:25 PM EDT, 2 hours 14 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 3, 5:37 PM EDT, 2 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 3, 1:22 PM EDT, 4 hours 17 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Chicago, IL issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 2, 8:00 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	Boone, DeKalb, Kane, McHenry, Ogle	60 min
Apr 2, 8:01 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	Boone, DeKalb, Kane, McHenry, Ogle	59 min
Apr 2, 8:06 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	DeKalb, LaSalle	24 min
Apr 2, 8:11 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	LaSalle, Livingston	34 min
Apr 2, 8:30 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, LaSalle and 1 more	45 min
Apr 2, 8:40 PM EDT	Tornado Warning	LOT	Lake, McHenry	35 min
Apr 2, 8:43 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	Grundy, Kendall, LaSalle, Livingston	62 min
Apr 2, 8:52 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LOT		113 min
Apr 2, 9:01 PM EDT	Areal Flood Advisory	LOT	Boone, DeKalb, McHenry	3 hr
Apr 2, 9:02 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	Cook, DuPage, Will	58 min
Apr 2, 9:23 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Cook, Will	67 min
Apr 2, 9:59 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	Cook, Will	31 min
Apr 2, 10:40 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LOT		65 min
Apr 2, 11:13 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Will	47 min
Apr 2, 11:20 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	LOT	Grundy	25 min
Apr 2, 11:24 PM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LOT		96 min
Apr 2, 11:32 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Cook	43 min
Apr 2, 11:52 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Cook, Grundy, Kankakee, Will	68 min
Apr 3, 12:58 AM EDT	Special Marine Warning	LOT		47 min
Apr 3, 1:58 AM EDT	River Flood Warning	LOT	LaSalle	45 hr
Apr 3, 12:58 PM EDT	River Flood Warning	LOT	Bureau, LaSalle, Putnam	7 days
Apr 3, 4:01 PM EDT	River Flood Warning	LOT	Winnebago	3 days
Apr 3, 4:56 PM EDT	Flood Watch	LOT	Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy and 12 more	18 hr
Apr 3, 12:12 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Lake, Porter	79 min
Apr 3, 2:02 AM EDT	River Flood Watch	LOT	Lake, Newton	20 hr
Apr 3, 12:05 PM EDT	River Flood Watch	LOT	Jasper, Porter	19 hr

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Indiana, 2026 Every tornado warning in 2026 Tornadoes 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.