Name: Lightning Strike in Illinois, April 10, 2001
Start: 2001-04-10T17:15
End: 2001-04-10T17:15
Location: Illinois

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 10, 2:45 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 10, 2:45 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
345 PM CDT TUE APR 10 2001

LATEST SFC ANLYS SHWG CDFNT STRETCHING FM NR KEMP TO NORTH OF KCOU
AND KSTL TO NR KLAF WITH LRG SCALE OUTFLOW BNDRY FM MRNG CNVCTN VERY
EVIDENT ON RADAR AND STLT FM JUST SOUTH OF KJEF THRU FRANKLIN CO TO
SOUTH OF KMVN.  AMS SOUTH OF THE OB HAS BCM PRETTY UNSTBL WITH CAPES
AOA 2000 J/KG.  SCT TSTRMS BGNG TO DVLP ON NWD MOVG OUTFLOW BNDRY
ATTM.  OTW LINEAR CLUSTER OF STRMS FM NE KS THRU WC MO BGNG TO
INTERACT WITH OB ON THE WRN FRINGE.  LLJ ALREADY BGNG TO BACK TO
MORE SLY AND THIS COMBINED WITH SOME ASCENT ASSOCD WITH THE SHRTWV
LIFTING THRU NE KS AND THE TWO BNDRYS SHUD LEAD TO BEST CNVCTV
THREAT OVR THE NRN HALF OF THE CWFA.  CONVECTIVE TRENDS OVR SE MO/SW
IL A BIT VAGUE BUT LESSER THAN FURTHER NORTH.  SOME HVY RN THREAT
OVR NE MO/WC IL BUT LONGEVITY AND FAST MVMNT PRECLUDING ISSUANCE OF
ANOTHER FFA ATTM.  LCL HVY RAFL LAST NGT WAS PRETTY ISOLD...AND WL
LET EVNG SHIFT ASSESS THE NEED FOR AN FFA SHUD IT ARISE.

STILL LOOKS LIKE A PRETTY GOOD SQLN SHUD EVOLVE ACRS THE WRN PLAINS
THIS EVENING...SWEEPING EWD IN ADVANCE OF THE EJECTING SW UPR
LOW/TROF.  BLV SQLN WL BE OVR ERN KS IN THE MRNG AND SHUD BE IN A
WKNG PHASE.  EITHER NEW LN OR REINTENSIFICATION OF THIS OLD SQLN
SHUD OCCUR TMW IN ADVANCE OF THE DRYLN AS LRG SCALE FRCG INCRSS WITH
LIFTING UPR TROF AND LOW LVLS UNDERGO DIURNAL DESTABILIZATION. SVR
THREAT CERTAINLY BEARS WATCHING CLOSELY WITH STG WND FIELDS AND DP
SHEAR.  OTHER THING TO WATCH ON WED IS WNDS.  THEY CUD HIT ADVSRY
CRITERIA TMW AFT...SPCLY IN THE WAKE OF THE SFC DRYLN WHERE DP MXG
BENEATH MID LVL DRY SLOT WL ENHANCE ALREADY TIGHTNING PRES GRAD.  WL
LET THE MID SHIFT ASSESS THIS NEED AS IT MAY BE NEEDED FOR EVNG AS
WELL.  DRYLN SHUD BE BTWN COU-STL BY 00Z THURS AND WL CONT MENTION
OF EVNG POPS AS A RESULT.

STEADY AS SHE GOES LATER PDS WITH NEW AVN INDCTG BEST PCPN THREAT ON
FRI PROBABLY DURING THE NGT FM STL SWD.  TMPS RETURN TO MORE
SEASONABLE NORMS FOR THE WKND.

.STL...NONE
GLASS

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 10, 1:10 PM CST, 4 hours 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
210 PM CDT TUE APR 10 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1132 AM    FOSTERBURG                IL   1.00 INCH HAIL
04/10/01   MADISON                        3/4 TO 1 INCH HAIL
                                          REPORTED BY SPOTTER.

100 PM     ST. ELMO                  IL   0.88 INCH HAIL
04v/10/01   FAYETTE                        REPORTED BY TRAINED STORM
                                          SPOTTER

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:17 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.

Lightning, Macoupin

When: April 10, 5:15 PM CST
Where: Macoupin County, 3 mi W of Girard
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 39.261, -89.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A 49 year old woman was struck and killed by lightning while working outside at her home at Sunset Lake west of Girard. Witnesses reported that the woman was planting and watering flowers and had knelt down at the edge of the lake to dip out some more water when the lightning struck.

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
Lightning, Macoupin	2001-04-10	49	Female	Outside/Open Areas	Direct

What these are

Lightning: A lightning strike that killed, injured or caused damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Illinois in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, April 2001

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: 5243932.