Heat in Illinois, July 18 to 31, 1999

Name: Heat in Illinois, July 18 to 31, 1999
Start: 1999-07-18T13:00
End: 1999-07-31T23:59
Location: Illinois

July 18 to 31, 1999 · NWS PAH · 19 events in 19 counties and zones

Prolonged heat and humidity during the latter half of July took its toll on the unprepared. Four fatalities were blamed on the heat, including two in Wayne County.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 19 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 4
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 19

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.

Prolonged heat and humidity during the latter half of July took its toll on the unprepared. Four fatalities were blamed on the heat, including two in Wayne County. Near Fairfield, a 78-year-old man died after driving his riding lawn mower to a trucking firm to gather landscape rocks. The man was found near a pile of rocks he had been gathering in 95-degree heat. Near Mount Erie, an 85-year-old man was found dead in his home. The windows were closed, and there was no air conditioning. Elsewhere in southern Illinois, a 53-year-old migrant worker died while laboring in a field near Shawneetown in Gallatin County. The man died at an Evansville hospital after suffering a heat stroke. The fourth death occurred in the Ohio River city of Metropolis, where an 82-year-old woman was found dead in her bathroom. This was the first time in his tenure as Massac County coroner that the cause of death was ruled as heat exhaustion. The woman did not use a fan in the house, and the indoor temperature was measured at 98 degrees. Daily highs were near 100 degrees on the 29th and 30th, with afternoon heat indices from 110 to 115 degrees. At Paducah, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Metropolis, this was the fifth warmest July on record.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

19 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Alexander

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Alexander forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.192, -89.338 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Edwards

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Edwards forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.417, -88.053 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Franklin

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Franklin forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.992, -88.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Gallatin

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Gallatin forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.763, -88.230 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Hamilton

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hamilton forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.082, -88.539 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Hardin

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hardin forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.518, -88.267 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Jackson

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Jackson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.785, -89.382 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Jefferson

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Jefferson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.301, -88.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Johnson

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Johnson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.460, -88.881 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Massac

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Massac forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.219, -88.708 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Perry

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Perry forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.084, -89.367 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Pope

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Pope forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.413, -88.562 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Pulaski

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Pulaski forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.223, -89.127 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Saline

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Saline forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.753, -88.541 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Union

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Union forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.471, -89.255 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Wabash

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Wabash forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.446, -87.844 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Wayne

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Wayne forecast zone
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.430, -88.426 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, White

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: White forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 38.088, -88.180 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heat, Williamson

When: July 18, 1:00 PM CST to July 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Williamson forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.730, -88.930 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Heat, Gallatin	1999-07-26	53	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct
Heat, Massac	1999-07-31	82	Female	Permanent Home	Direct
Heat, Wayne	1999-07-23	78	Male	Outside/Open Areas	Direct
Heat, Wayne	1999-07-24	85	Male	Permanent Home	Direct

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 1999 Every state in 1999 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, July 1999

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: 5709429, 5709430, 5709431, 5709432, 5709433, 5709434, 5709435, 5709436, 5709437, 5709438, 5709439, 5709440, 5709441, 5709442, 5709443, 5709444, 5709445, 5709446, 5709447.