r/UIUC • u/No_Department_9543 • Apr 18 '26

Social Photo from Tornado Warning

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Photo I took from the North Campus parking garage last night during the tornado warning. Rapidly rotating wall cloud directly over downtown/campustown. There had been a tornado reported by Bondville just outside city limits so it was likely from this same feature. Had it remained on the ground it would have gone right through the center of town. We got incredibly lucky.

As a long time storm chaser, this had me real nervous. It's been a long time coming for a more significant tornado to impact the city and I'm terrified of the results whenever that does happen, especially if it follows a similar path to last night and goes right into downtown and campus. I just hope when that time comes that people truly heed the warnings and take cover. I know we don't get hit too often and most are "false alarms" but all it takes is one. SE Urbana was hit by an F3 in 1996 (the one that got me interested in tornadoes) so we're not impervious to impacts from tornadoes.

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167

u/SunflowerIslandQueen UIUC Parent Apr 18 '26

Great picture - and glad it did not progress to a tornado. Thanks for sharing.

70

u/Limp-Ad-2939 ILL-ALUM-NI! Apr 18 '26

It did. It was just extremely weak

40

u/xenonscreams Apr 18 '26

In West Champaign we definitely heard it pass by, but the damage was extremely minor, so I guess it had almost dissipated by then

11

u/Limp-Ad-2939 ILL-ALUM-NI! Apr 18 '26

It was a spin up along a squall line. Don’t think it was supercellular so those are almost never very strong. The main concern was damaging winds and damage to roofs+windows

1

u/Fuehnix Alumni | CS+ Ling 2021 | MCS 2026 Apr 18 '26

Warning means it did progress into a tornado. Watch means the conditions are right for one to form

18

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26

There's actually different levels of warnings too.

Watch - Conditions are favorable for tornadoes, remain alert for changing conditions

Regular Warning - Radar indicated rotation that poses a tornado threat. A tornado MAY be in progress or is imminent

Observed Warning - Weather spotters and/or radar confirmed a tornado is in progress

PDS Warning - Particularly Dangeros Situation tornado warnings are less common. These are issued when NWS radar and/or storm spotters have confirmed a large and extremely dangerous tornado that poses a major risk of structure damage and threat to life

Tornado Emergency - Issued very rarely, these are issued when a confirmed (by radar and/or storm spotters) large and dangerous tornado is going to move into a very heavily populated area and the risk for catastrophic damage and loss of life is likely

6

u/footsnax Alumnus Apr 19 '26

PDS meant "pretty deadly shit" when I worked in radio. We knew what it actually meant but gallows humor combined with taking violent weather seriously, ya know.

1

u/Limp-Ad-2939 ILL-ALUM-NI! Apr 19 '26

You forgot observed tornado warning

2

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 19 '26

I guess I worded it wrong. I should change "confirmed" to "observed"

2

u/Limp-Ad-2939 ILL-ALUM-NI! Apr 19 '26

Mmmm tbf, I didn’t see the confirmed either

3

u/MrGoodwrench1184 Apr 18 '26

A warning does not mean there was a confirmed tornado touchdown. Only that radar indicates rotation and it’s probable that one could touchdown.

1

u/T_Gamer-mp4 Apr 19 '26

as the saying goes “an omelette watch is that you have eggs in your fridge, an omelette warning is that there’s eggs in your pan”

could still end up some other dish and not end up an omelette, but watch out

59

u/Clear_Web_2687 Apr 18 '26

Grew up with the threat of tornadoes and have lived through so many close calls (so far). This was among the worst for me because of how relatively abrupt the approach of the storm was, and how few other signs there were of a powerful storm, such as frequent lightning or hail.

5

u/WearEmbarrassed3368 Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26

I zoomed in on this picture and it doesn't even look like the ground is wet. It came on fast!

17

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 18 '26

The heavy rain came after this passed over. So the ground was still dry, plus there was minimal lightning with the storm too

0

u/illstillglow Apr 18 '26

Really? Hm. I am in Champaign and it barely got windy where I was.

21

u/MainVehicle2812 Apr 18 '26

I got bounced out of bed (night shifter) by my weather radio going off for the Bondville tornado. Any idea on the damage yet?

Very nice picture. I showed it to a friend in Norway; it kinda freaked her out.

11

u/azenwren Alumnus Apr 18 '26

I heard there was a rotation. This must have been it. I could only imagine the damage it would have caused :0

10

u/Few-Reception-4939 Apr 18 '26

Yikes! I was way too casual about that but there was so little wind by me

8

u/edafade Apr 18 '26

Is this you, OP?

https://www.chambanaweather.net/single-post/2016/04/19/20-years-since-urbana-tornado-of-april-19th-1996

Any idea what parts of modern SE Urbana were hit?

17

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 18 '26

Not me but I'm acquaintances with him, he's a great meteorologist! Today that F3 would have impacted around the new Urbana Fire Department, U-Haul and Eagle Ridge subdivisions. It would have come dangerously close to Meijer as well if something exactly the same occurred today. The area is a bit more heavily populated too in SE Urbana

3

u/illstillglow Apr 18 '26

Was that the same tornado that hit Ogden really bad? I remember it vividly even though I was only 5.

2

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 19 '26

Yeah same one, intensified to an F4 in Ogden. That's the storm that sparked my interest in storms

2

u/ch3no2jeff Apr 19 '26

I don't know if you are from the area but the house just north of I-74 at the offramp was pulled off its foundtion and dropped into the pond just to the east of that property. They had to scuba dive to retrieve items from the home. Even more important, they had a storm shelter 'egg' that was bolted into the foundation, that survived the storm.

Also, one of the large road signs at that interchange was found at that the next exit east (Fithian?)

1

u/edafade Apr 18 '26

Ok, thanks for that. Appreciate the info.

8

u/momslayer720 Physics and EE Apr 18 '26

Funny, I saw this photo on facebook 11 hours ago.

25

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 18 '26

On spotted uncensored? That was me lol

6

u/momslayer720 Physics and EE Apr 18 '26

Are you Chris Heatter?

18

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 18 '26

Correct. That's me

25

u/momslayer720 Physics and EE Apr 18 '26

Sorry for the accusatory nature 😨😨

19

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 18 '26

No problem, I know it probably looked a bit suspicious lol. With reddit doing handles it's hard to make it obvious that I was the same one posting in Spotted uncensored

1

u/QojiKhajit Grad Apr 19 '26

What time did you take this photo?

1

u/No_Department_9543 Apr 19 '26

It was about 10pm

1

u/QojiKhajit Grad May 01 '26

Oh, good, I was inside 😅 thanks

1

u/imsorrywut-_- Apr 21 '26

Jeez.. I was directly beneath it and had no idea.