Alert archive / Illinois / Mesoscale Discussions in 2026

Mesoscale Discussion 191

March 10, 20264 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Mar 10, 2026, 4:53 PM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 97 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 10, 2026, 4:53 PM CDT (21:53 UTC)
Expired: Mar 10, 2026, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 97 min
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning: Severe potential...watch likely
Chance of a watch: 95%

All 31 counties

Cedar County, IA, Clinton County, IA, Jackson County, IA, Johnson County, IA, Jones County, IA, Muscatine County, IA, Scott County, IA, Boone County, IL, Bureau County, IL, Carroll County, IL, Cook County, IL, DeKalb County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Jo Daviess County, IL, Kane County, IL, Kendall County, IL, Lake County, IL, Lee County, IL, McHenry County, IL, Ogle County, IL, Rock Island County, IL, Stephenson County, IL, Whiteside County, IL, Will County, IL, Winnebago County, IL, Allegan County, MI, Berrien County, MI, Cass County, MI, Kalamazoo County, MI, Van Buren County, MI, Kenosha County, WI

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:53 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 551 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -175 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 971 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 101 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 75 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 10, 11:16 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bureau, Ford, Fulton, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee and 11 more	29 min
Mar 10, 1:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bureau, Ford, Fulton, Grundy, Hancock, Henderson and 20 more	3 hr
Mar 10, 3:57 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bureau, Cass, Champaign, DeWitt, Ford, Fulton and 29 more	10 hr
Mar 10, 5:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Boone, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Jo Daviess and 11 more	7 hr
Mar 10, 5:41 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Greene, Hancock, McDonough and 3 more	2 hr
Mar 10, 5:57 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Brown	6 hr
Mar 10, 6:27 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kankakee	63 min
Mar 10, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Berrien, Branch, Cass, Saint Joseph	6 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Illinois, 2026 Mesoscale Discussions in Iowa, 2026 Mesoscale Discussions in Michigan, 2026 Every mesoscale discussion 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.