Illinois, 2001

High Wind in Illinois, April 12, 2001

April 12, 2001 · NWS LOT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
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 Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 12, 1:34 AM CST, 2 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 12, 1:34 AM CST, 2 hours 26 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
106 AM CDT THU APR 12 2001

AT 04Z CONVERGENCE ZONE AT SURFACE ALONG IN/IL BORDER WITH TSTM LINE
RAPIDLY FORMING AHEAD OF IT. DRY LINE WAS NR STL-MSN LN MOVG EAST.
GUSTY SW WINDS TO 30KTS JUST TO OUR SW MOVG NE WITH LOW OVER NW IA.

NICE VORT SPIN OVER NORTH CENTRAL IA PER SATL PICS WITH BAND SHOWERS
IN STRONG PVA ZONE JUST CLIPPING XTRM NW IL AT 06Z. THIS FALLING OUT
OF MID DECK WITH VORT MAX. CLOUDS GO DOWN TO N MO OR BASE OF 50% RH SO
LOOKS LIKE THIS WILL ROTATE OVER THE AREA TODAY WITH MOSTLY CLOUDY N
AND VARIABLE CLOUDS SOUTH. WILL ALSO STAY N OF MODLE MID LEVEL JET
BASED ON 500 VORT  PATTERN FORECAST TODAY. TREND WILL BE CLEARING
TONIGHT. THIS WHOLE SPIN AREA MOVES RAPIDLY TO OUR NW TODAY. CLOUDS
WILL PROBABLY HOLD WIND SPEED DOWN SOME SO A MARGINAL WIND ADVISORY
SITUATION.

NEW VORT NOW IN NV THEN COMES OUR WAY TONIGHT BUT SHEARS APART AS FLOW
GOES ZONAL. THIRD VORT THEN MOVES OVER MN/WI FRI NIGHT. MODELS
ESPECIALLY AVN BRINGS SLUG RH OVER AREA WITH THIS BUT WILL LEAVE DRY
FOR NOW AS DYNAMICS LOOK TO STAY N OF US.

WITH GOOD CCA TODAY EXPECT HIGHS IN 60S EARLY MORNING AND THEN A SLOW
FALL INTO THE 50S WHERE WILL HOLD STEADY. TEMP GUIDANCE LOOKS GOOD.

.CHI...GALE LM
 WIND ADVISORY ALL AREA
 CORD WITH ILX

AF

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Cook

When
April 12, 4:00 AM CST to 12:00 PM CST
Where
Cook forecast zone
Measured
43 kt (49 mph)
Property damage
$50,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER

Winds gusted to 46 mph in Chicago and 49 mph at Waukegan. At around 500 AM CDT winds knocked down a cinder block wall at a construction site on the northwest side of Chciago, damaging 4 parked cars. At 1130 AM strong winds peeled off a brick facade from an old warehouse building on the south side of Chicago, damaging a pick-up truck. Blowing debris broke a window in a high rise building in downtown Chicago.

What these are

High Wind
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5238881.