Alert archive / Illinois / Cook County / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Cook County, Illinois, 2016

23 severe thunderstorm warnings in 2016. An alert counts here when it covered this county. The archive of severe thunderstorm warnings reaches back to 1986.

Cook County and its neighbors

Each county as a circle sized by its count in 2016. Tap one for its archive.

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
23
Busiest month
July16 severe thunderstorm warnings
Busiest day
July 24, 20164 severe thunderstorm warnings

Over time

By month

Warning verification

How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.

15 of 23 severe thunderstorm warnings covering Cook County in 2016 had a qualifying storm report inside them; 22 of 27 hail, wind and damage reports fell inside a warning, on average 20 minutes after it went out.

Cook County, 2016

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
Severe thunderstorm warnings231535%2781%20 min

Each office's whole area, 2016

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
NWS Chicago, IL: severe thunderstorm warnings974653%15555%21 min

An office's figures cover every county it serves, including across state lines.

Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.

The alerts

Every alert, in the order issued. Times are local, Central Time. Each opens its own page with the text, the map, the radar and the sounding.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Apr 25, 5:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT41 min
Apr 25, 6:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT23 min
Apr 25, 7:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT33 min
Apr 25, 9:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT29 min
May 25, 5:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT39 min
Jun 22, 8:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT49 min
Jun 22, 8:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT45 min
Jul 6, 1:50 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT70 min
Jul 6, 2:47 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT58 min
Jul 6, 3:38 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT54 min
Jul 13, 6:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT62 min
Jul 13, 6:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT43 min
Jul 13, 7:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT31 min
Jul 13, 7:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT30 min
Jul 17, 10:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT51 min
Jul 21, 7:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT63 min
Jul 21, 8:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT14 min
Jul 23, 6:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT47 min
Jul 24, 5:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT33 min
Jul 24, 6:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT40 min
Jul 24, 6:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT25 min
Jul 24, 6:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT46 min
Jul 24, 7:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOT46 min

The busiest days

Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.

Nearby

Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordForecastThe radar archive20152017

Sources

National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.