6 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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 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 Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 9, 1:45 PM CST, 3 hours 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 245 PM CDT MON APR 9 2001 ETA/MESOETA WL BE USED IN THE SHORT TERM FORECAST PERIOD AS SVL MESOSCALE BOUNDARIES FROM MRNG CONVECTION LOCATED OVER CNTRL IL WHICH WILL AID IN DVLPMT OF NEW CONVECTION LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. MAJOR WEATHER SYSTEM COMING OUT OF THE SOUTHWEST MIDWEEK WAS HANDLED THE BEST BY THE AVN AND WILL FOLLOW ITS SOLUTION LATER IN THE FORECAST PERIOD. MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGE THIS PD WL BE DURATION AND AEREAL EXTENT OF PRECIP OVR CNTRL IL INTO TUE ALONG WITH TEMPS. 18Z MESOANALYSIS INDICATING WEAK SFC WAVE OVR SE IOWA WITH BNDRY EXTDG EWD TO SECONDARY WAVE OVR NW OHIO. SVL CONVECTIVE BOUNDARIES LOCATED ACRS THE CWA. ONE BNDRY IS ACTUALLY RETREATING NEWD INTO SW IL WHERE THE 18Z MSAS WAS INDICATING SOME WEAK CONVERGENCE ALONG IT. SECONDARY BNDRY EXTDG FROM SFC WAVE OVR ERN IA TO NEAR GALESBURG TO JUST SOUTH OF MARSEILLES. MSAS SUGGESTING BEST MOISTURE CONVERGENCE NEAR SFC WAVE OVR ERN IA. 18Z ILX SOUNDING INDICATING NO CAP WITH CAPES APPRCHG 2500 J/KG. MODELS ONCE AGAIN SLOW TO DEVELOP CONVECTION ACRS THE CWA THIS AFTN WITH MAIN ACTION DEVELOPING TNT AS LOW LVL JET INCREASES TO OUR SOUTHWEST AND IMPEDES ON BNDRY ACRS CNTRL IL. WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWING SUBTROPICAL PLUME TRACKING NEWD OUT OF THE SRN PLAINS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH MODELS DEPICTING IMPRESSIVE 250 MB DIVERGENCE ACRS THE FORECAST AREA LATE TNT INTO TUE. WL HIT THE PRECIP WORDING HARD WITH A MENTION HEAVY RAINFALL LATER TNT INTO TUE MRNG. DON'T FEEL VERY CONFIDENT ABOUT WHERE AXIS OF HEAVIEST RAINFALL WL BE LATER TNT AS ANY CONVECTION WHICH FIRES NEAR SYNOPTIC BNDRY MAY TEND TO PUSH FRONT FURTHER SOUTH THAN INDICATED BY THE ETA/MESOETA. FFG VALUES STILL RELATIVELY HIGH ACRS THE CWA SO FOR NOW WL HOLD OFF ANY FF WATCH HEADLINES. GUID NUMBERS SEEM MORE IN LINE THIS FCST CYCLE THAN IN THE PAST AND WL STAY CLOSE TO THOSE TNT. FORECAST BECOMES EVEN MORE COMPLEX TMRW AS ETA/MESOETA SUGGEST BNDRY WL NOT PUSH VERY FAR SOUTH ACRS OUR CWA...AS A RESULT WL KEEP PRECIP CHANCES GOING ON TUE OVR MOST OF THE CWA. TUE NIGHT AND WED...AS NEXT MAJOR SHORTWAVE PULLS OUT INTO THE HIGH PLAINS...STRONG LOW LVL WARM ADVECTION PATTERN DEVELOPS ACRS THE MIDWEST AS 60+ KNT LOW LVL JET PULLS DEEP MOISTURE NWD INTO THE REGION. LIKE THE AVN'S DEPICTION OF PULLING STRONG SFC LOW WELL TO THE WEST OF THE CWA AS ADDL SHORTWAVE ENERGY DROPS INTO THE MEAN LNGWV TROF POSITION LT WED. THIS SHOULD RESULT IN ANOTHER THREAT OF CONVECTION TO THE CWA LT WED INTO EARLY THUR MRNG ALONG WITH STRONG GRADIENT WINDS. THANKS TO LSX AND IND FOR THE COORD THIS AFTN. ...PRELIMINARY NUMBERS FOR COORDINATION ONLY... SPI TB 057/072 055/078 055 44766 PIA TB 054/070 055/077 053 44656 DEC TB 057/072 055/078 055 44766 CMI TB 055/073 054/078 055 44666 MTO TB 061/077 062/079 055 55766 LWV TB 065/080 064/082 059 44765Z .ILX...NONE. SMITH
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:54 UTC.
6 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail of at least 1" in diameter fell for over 10 minutes prior to the 3 inch report.
Tornado touched down in open field for approximately 5 minutes. No damage was reported.
Hail ranged from dime to baseball size during the storm. Baseball size hail was also reported in Varna.
A roof was blown off of a pole bar 1/2 mile north of Oblong. A house lost its porch and part of the roof, with a barn losing part of its roof as well. Wind gusts of 82 and 86 mph were recorded with 2 different pieces of equipment.
Extensive damage was reported as a result of a collapsing thunderstorm in the area. In Philo, a sunroom was taken off of a house and blown into a neighbor's house. Large tree limbs were blown down and roof damage was also noted in Philo, as well as in Sidney. In Homer, 8 to 12 inch diameter trees were broken off, along with several being uprooted. A porch was removed from a house and playground equipment was lifted out of the ground. Exact damage locations were from CR 1600E and 1000N east to 1050N and 2800 E. Wind gust was measured at the Champaign Airport by ASOS.
Power lines and trees reported down. A empty semi trailer was tipped over onto the top of a car parked next to it in Fairmount.
Hail ranging from pea to golf ball size fell for at least 20 minutes in parts of Minonk and piled several inches deep. Widespread damage was noted to vehicles in the area, with some minor roof damage to homes. At least 50 vehicles were reported to have between $2000 and $4000 in damage each. Damage estimates are based on minimum damage figures available and is likely higher.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 2001Warnings in Illinois, April 2001
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: 5239593, 5239916, 5239924, 5239917, 5239919, 5239922, 5239923, 5239918, 5239920, 5239921.