Weather warning contains emergency message about missing girl

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Lincoln, Illinois, issued an unusual warning on Thursday morning along with a message from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA).

Although such alerts are typically reserved for weather-related warnings such as extreme heat, severe storms, tornadoes and more, the NWS occasionally relays alerts from other agencies, including air quality alerts from local environmental agencies or, as in the recent case, a civil distress alert regarding a missing child.

The NWS office issued the warning on behalf of IEMA at 11:04 a.m. Central Time Thursday morning.

“Canton Police are asking the public for help in locating a missing child. We are looking for a two-year-old white girl with dark blonde hair and weighing approximately 25 pounds. She was last seen around 6:30 a.m. today wearing blue pajamas,” the message said.

“Please check your own property, outbuildings and any existing camera systems for any signs of the child,” the message continued. “No further assistance is needed at this time. If you have any information, please contact 309-647-5131.”

On Thursday morning, Canton police announced they are searching for a missing juvenile. The young girl left her home on foot near the 500 block of Custer Place that morning.

Police not only searched their properties but also advised people to avoid the area.

“And everyone else please stay out of the area. Increased foot and vehicle traffic will make it more difficult for the sniffer dogs, drones and aircraft to identify the missing juvenile,” Canton police said in a Facebook post.

Ed Shimon, meteorologist for the NWS warning coordination, said Newsweek that the local emergency management system can send out the alert on its own, but the NWS issued the alert Thursday morning at the request of IEMA. He said civil emergency alerts are most commonly issued for Amber Alerts. The last time the NWS office in Lincoln, Illinois, issued such an alert was in 2023.

As of 2 p.m. ET, Shimon said, the NWS had not received an update on the child’s discovery, so the alert was still active.

Shimon added that no dangerous weather conditions were expected on Thursday that could complicate the search or further endanger the child’s health. He said it should be sunny or partly cloudy, with temperatures around 27 degrees. The biggest danger is that the child could get severe sunburn if left outdoors unprotected for a long time.