Hail, Knox
- When
- May 18, 8:19 PM CST
- Where
- Knox County, Abingdon
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Coordinates
- 40.800, -90.400
Tornado and Hail in Illinois, May 18, 1997
2 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $80,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 5
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The radar
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:19 UTC.
Event by event
2 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Knox
- When
- May 18, 8:19 PM CST
- Where
- Knox County, 8 mi WSW of Yates City
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Coordinates
- 40.730, -90.150
A tornado briefly touched down in a field 8 miles west southwest of Yates City. No injuries or damage were reported.
Hail, Knox
- When
- May 18, 9:20 PM CST
- Where
- Knox County, Oneida
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Coordinates
- 41.080, -90.220
Thunderstorm Wind, Tazewell
- When
- May 18, 9:23 PM CST
- Where
- Tazewell County, Pekin
- Coordinates
- 40.570, -89.630
Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous large tree limbs in Pekin. No injuries were reported and no damage estimate was available.
Thunderstorm Wind, Woodford
- When
- May 18, 9:26 PM CST
- Where
- Woodford County, Benson
- Property damage
- $80,000
- Coordinates
- 40.850, -89.120
Thunderstorm winds blew down a few trees and tree limbs in Benson. Also, the "doglegs" of a grain bin were blown off, several large sheds had their doors blown in, and some siding damage was reported in the area. No injuries were reported and damage was estimated around $80,000.
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Flash Flood and Hail in Arizona, May 18 to 20, 1997
- Tornadoes and Hail in Iowa, May 18, 1997
- Tornado in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Tornado in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Tornado in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Michigan, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 18, 1997
- Tornado and Damaging Wind in Illinois, May 18, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Ohio, May 18, 1997
- Hail in Kansas, May 18, 1997
- Damaging Wind in West Virginia, May 18, 1997
More
Every storm in Illinois in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 1997Warnings in Illinois, May 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5598139, 5598140, 5598141, 5598142, 5598143.