Alert archive / Illinois / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 94
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 3, 2026, 5:18 PM CDT for 15 counties in Illinois; 10 counties in Indiana. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 3, 2026, 5:18 PM CDT (22:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 3, 2026, 9:20 PM CDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 55 kt
All 25 counties
Cass County, IL, Ford County, IL, Fulton County, IL, Iroquois County, IL, Knox County, IL, Livingston County, IL, Marshall County, IL, Mason County, IL, McLean County, IL, Menard County, IL, Peoria County, IL, Schuyler County, IL, Stark County, IL, Tazewell County, IL, Woodford County, IL, Benton County, IN, Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Jasper County, IN, Newton County, IN, Pulaski County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Warren County, IN, White County, IN
The radar
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:19 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
- 40%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 20%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
16 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 5:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Cass, Morgan, Schuyler | 22 min |
| Apr 3, 5:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IND | Carroll, Howard | 35 min |
| Apr 3, 5:29 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Mason, Tazewell | 31 min |
| Apr 3, 5:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IWX | Cass, Miami | 43 min |
| Apr 3, 5:49 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Tazewell | 26 min |
| Apr 3, 6:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IND | Carroll, Clinton, Tippecanoe | 25 min |
| Apr 3, 6:09 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Tazewell | 36 min |
| Apr 3, 6:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | IWX | Cass, Miami, Wabash | 25 min |
| Apr 3, 6:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Fulton, Mason, Tazewell | 47 min |
| Apr 3, 6:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | McLean, Tazewell | 39 min |
| Apr 3, 6:40 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ILX | Mason, Tazewell | 35 min |
| Apr 3, 7:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | McLean, Woodford | 45 min |
| Apr 3, 7:05 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILX | McLean, Tazewell, Woodford | 3 hr |
| Apr 3, 7:54 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | ILX | McLean, Woodford | 3 hr |
| Apr 3, 8:08 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | LOT | Livingston | 6 hr |
| Apr 3, 8:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ILX | Tazewell, Woodford | 24 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, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 76 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
- 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
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 3, 1:26 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Cass, DeWitt, Fulton, Hancock and 19 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 3, 2:20 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Brown, Hancock, Henderson, McDonough, Warren | 6 hr |
| Apr 3, 4:59 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cass, Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Ford, Fulton and 21 more | 2 hr |
| Apr 2, 7:21 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allen, Blackford, Boone, Carroll, Cass, Clay and 29 more | 84 min |
| Apr 3, 3:15 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bartholomew, Brown, Dearborn, Decatur, Fayette, Franklin and 16 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2026Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2026Every 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.