Name: High Wind in Illinois, April 7, 2001
Start: 2001-04-07T09:00
End: 2001-04-07T18:00
Location: Illinois

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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: 1
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 3

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 LOT wrote it up.

Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts over 50 mph occurred throughout northern Illinois. Peak gusts reached 59 mph at Waukegan, 58 mph at Rockford, 50 mph at O'hare airport in Chicago, 50 mph at Meigs Field in Chicago, 52 mph at Midway airport in Chicago, 56 mph at Lake Villa, 52 mph in Carpentersville, 54 mph at DuPage Airport in West Chicago, 55 mph at Aurora Airport in Sugar Grove, 53 mph at the NWS office in Romeoville, and 55 mph in Coal City in Will County. Winds damaged tree limbs and power lines throughout the area. As many as 100,000 customers lost power. In Arlington Heights, a snapped power line ignited a gas fire. Power lines dangling over Interstate 294 near Half Day Road, closed the tollway for 3 hours. A shuttle bus stop enclosure at Midway Airport blew over onto 2 parked cars. In Algonquin, a 50 year old woman was killed when a 6 to 10 inch diameter tree limb fell on her car as she was driving on Route 31 around noon. Later in Algonquin, a 5 year old girl was injured when a trampoline blew 25 feet across the yard as she was jumping on it. In Tinley Park a canopy at the convention center collapsed injuring 6 people and damaging a van.

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 7, 2:25 AM CST, 6 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 7, 2:25 AM CST, 6 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
325 AM CDT SAT APR 7 2001

WARM FRONT CUTS ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA THIS MORNING WITH SHARP
TEMPERATURE CONTRASTS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH. 08Z READINGS VARY FROM
LOW 40S ALONG THE IL-WI LINE TO MIDDLE/UPPER 60S IN THE SOUTHERN END
OF THE FORECAST AREA. EXPECT WARM FRONT TO MOVE NORTH RAPIDLY THIS
MORNING AS WELL-CRANKED SURFACE LOW IN EASTERN NE MOVES NORTHEAST.

INTENSE SURFACE LOW CONTINUES TO DEEPEN THIS MORNING. AS IT MOVES
NORTHEAST THE GRADIENT WILL TIGHTEN EVEN FARTHER WITH SURFACE WIND
SPEEDS INCREASING TO THE 25-35 MPH RANGE. CURRENT 88D VAD WINDS
SHOWS SPEEDS TO 65 KTS JUST ABOVE THE SURFACE EVEN NOW.

SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS GOOD DRY SLOT ASSOCAITED WITH THE SYSTEM.
MODEL DATA FOLLOWS THE SLOT INTO THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON WITH TIME
CROSS SECTIONS DROPPING MEAN RH RAPIDLY SHORTLY AFTER 18Z SO SHOULD
SEE FAIR AMOUNT OF SUN BY THEN.

WINDS BEGIN TO DROP OFF TONIGHT AS LOW CONTINUES MOVING OUT OF
AREA.

NEXT CHANCE OF PRECIP BEGINS SUNDAY EVENING AS WAVE DEVELOPS ON
PLAINS AND BOUNDARY SETS UP ACROSS FA.

.CHI...WIND ADVISORY ALL ZONES TODAY AND THIS EVENING.
       GALE WARNING LAKE MICHIGAN TODAY AND THIS EVENING.

SOMREK

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 7, 5:00 AM CST, 4 hours before

ILZ033-039-INZ010>011-071700-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER STATEMENT...RETRANSMISSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
600 AM CDT SAT APR 7 2001

FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA

NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

AN INTENSE LOW MOVING INTO THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY WILL PRODUCE
STRONG GUSTY WINDS ACROSS THE AREA TODAY AND THIS EVENING. A WIND
ADVISORY HAS BEEN POSTED FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS
AND NORTHWEST INDIANA FOR THIS EVENT.

WINDS WILL INCREASE TO SPEEDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH SOME GUSTS AS
HIGH AS 45 MPH THIS MORNING. STRONG WINDS WILL CONTINUE TODAY AND
THIS EVENING BEFORE THEY BEGIN TO DECREASE. SPEEDS WILL LESSEN TO 10
TO 20 MPH OVERNIGHT.

SOMREK

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Winnebago

When: April 7, 9:00 AM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: Winnebago forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.336, -89.161 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Lake

When: April 7, 9:00 AM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: Lake forecast zone
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.349, -87.862 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, McHenry

When: April 7, 9:00 AM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where: McHenry forecast zone
Measured: 46 kt (53 mph)
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.324, -88.452 (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
High Wind, McHenry	2001-04-07	50	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	Direct

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 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: 5238882, 5238883, 5238884.