Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 54

March 15, 202629 counties in Illinois

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 15, 2026, 3:43 PM CDT for 29 counties in Illinois. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Mar 15, 2026, 3:43 PM CDT (20:43 UTC)
Expired: Mar 15, 2026, 9:06 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 29 counties

Cass County, IL, Champaign County, IL, Christian County, IL, Clark County, IL, Clay County, IL, Coles County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Cumberland County, IL, DeWitt County, IL, Douglas County, IL, Edgar County, IL, Effingham County, IL, Jasper County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Logan County, IL, Macon County, IL, Mason County, IL, McLean County, IL, Menard County, IL, Morgan County, IL, Moultrie County, IL, Piatt County, IL, Richland County, IL, Sangamon County, IL, Scott County, IL, Shelby County, IL, Tazewell County, IL, Vermilion County, IL, Woodford County, IL

The radar

The Lincoln radar (KILX), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:46 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: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 30%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 5%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 15, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Morgan, Sangamon, Scott	44 min
Mar 15, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Logan, Menard, Sangamon	34 min
Mar 15, 5:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian, Sangamon	42 min
Mar 15, 5:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Logan, McLean, Tazewell	51 min
Mar 15, 5:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Logan, Sangamon	35 min
Mar 15, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian, Logan, Macon, Sangamon	46 min
Mar 15, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Christian, Macon, Moultrie, Shelby	45 min
Mar 15, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	DeWitt, Logan, Macon	45 min
Mar 15, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Christian, Macon, Moultrie, Shelby	30 min
Mar 15, 6:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	DeWitt, McLean, Macon, Piatt	39 min
Mar 15, 6:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Moultrie, Piatt, Shelby	38 min
Mar 15, 6:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Champaign, Douglas, Moultrie, Piatt	32 min
Mar 15, 6:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Coles, Douglas, Moultrie	36 min
Mar 15, 6:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Champaign, DeWitt, McLean, Piatt	34 min
Mar 15, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Champaign, McLean, Piatt	41 min
Mar 15, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Clay, Effingham, Jasper	57 min
Mar 15, 7:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Champaign, Douglas, Vermilion	23 min
Mar 15, 7:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Coles, Cumberland, Richland, Shelby	44 min
Mar 15, 7:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Clay, Effingham, Jasper	38 min
Mar 15, 7:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Edgar, Vermilion	45 min
Mar 15, 7:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Clark, Crawford, Jasper, Lawrence, Richland	54 min
Mar 15, 7:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Clark, Cumberland	38 min
Mar 15, 8:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Clay, Richland	30 min
Mar 15, 8:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Edgar	33 min
Mar 15, 8:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ILX	Crawford, Lawrence	15 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, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 46 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: 1382 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 389 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 410 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
Mar 15, 12:23 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jackson, Jersey and 13 more	2 hr
Mar 15, 1:33 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Fayette, Greene, Jersey and 9 more	6 hr
Mar 15, 3:27 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson and 8 more	93 min
Mar 15, 3:57 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Alexander, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin and 13 more	7 hr
Mar 15, 5:16 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Iroquois, Kankakee	59 min
Mar 15, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Ford, Iroquois, Kankakee, Livingston	6 hr
Mar 15, 5:47 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bond, Champaign, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles and 22 more	88 min
Mar 15, 6:43 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Alexander, Massac, Pulaski, Union	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2026 Every tornado watch 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.