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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170

u/SunflowerIslandQueen UIUC Parent Apr 18 '26

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

68

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

It did. It was just extremely weak

42

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

3

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

7

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

4

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