Heat, Cook
- When
- August 1, 12:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
- Where
- Cook forecast zone
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- GOVT OFFICIAL
Heat in Illinois, August 1, 2001
An excessive heat watch was issued on Monday July 30th and an excessive heat warning was issued on Wednesday, August 1st. This heat wave began in late July 2001 (See StormData, July 2001, Illinois, Northeast).
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 happened
The episode as NWS LOT wrote it up.
An excessive heat watch was issued on Monday July 30th and an excessive heat warning was issued on Wednesday, August 1st. This heat wave began in late July 2001 (See StormData, July 2001, Illinois, Northeast). The high temperature at Ohare Airport was 92 on August 1st. Heat indices on August 1st were in the upper 90s to 100 degrees.
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 Jul 31, 2:15 PM CST, 9 hours 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 2:15 PM CST, 9 hours 45 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 315 PM CDT TUE JUL 31 2001 FORECAST CONCERNS INCLUDE HEAT HEADLINES THROUGH TOMORROW...PRECIP CHANCES WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...AND TEMPERATURE TREND IN EXTENDED. AT 19Z...AREA SURFACE OBS INDICATING TEMPS IN THE LOW TO MID 90S AND DEWPOINTS GENERALLY IN THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 70S. SUSPECT THAT SEVERAL OF THE AWOS SITES A BIT HIGH IN THE DEWPOINT MEASUREMENT...ALTHOUGH STEPPING OUTSIDE AND SLINGING HERE AT THE OFFICE YIELDS 79. PROXIMITY TO CORN FIELDS AND PLANT EVAPOTRANSPIRATION MAY BE RESULTING IN THESE HIGHER DEWPOINTS...WHICH MAY NOT BE AS OFF AS THEY LOOK. GIVEN THAT THE DEWPOINTS ARE RUNNING SEVERAL DEGREES HIGHER THAN NUMERICAL MODEL FORECASTS...HAVE DECIDED TO ISSUE HEAT ADVISORY OUTSIDE OF CHICAGO METRO AREA THROUGH WEDNESDAY. WARNING CRITERIA A BIT HIGHER FOR CHICAGO AREA...WITH THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF 100-105 HEAT INDEX NEEDED. SO FAR...WILL HOLD OFF ON WARNING FOR BORDERLINE EVENT. EXPECT SIMILAR CONDITIONS ON WEDNESDAY...SO WILL CONTINUE ADVISORY OUTSIDE CHI THROUGH WED. CONCERN THOUGHT...THAT WITH FRONT MOVING THROUGH SLOWLY ON THURSDAY THAT CONDITIONS COULD BE CLOSE AGAIN. MUCH OF THIS DEPENDS ON CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT. WILL LEAVE HEAT WATCH GO FOR NOW...AND LET MIDNIGHT SHIFT ASSEC MCS DEVELOPMENT VERSES MODEL FORECAST AND MAKE CALL ON EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING. AS FAR AS PRECIP CHANCES...LOW PRESSURE OVER SOUTH DAKOTA DEVELOPING IN RESPONSE TO SHORT WAVE OVER MONTANA. THIS LOW FORECAST TO LIFT NORTHEAST INTO ONTARIO WEDNESDAY...WITH TRAILING COLD FRONT MOVING INTO NORTHWEST ILLINOIS THURSDAY MORNING. FRONT SHOULD TEND TO SLOW UP AS IT IS PARALLEL TO UPPER FLOW...AND MAIN VORT ENERGY TRACKING WELL TO THE NORTH. ETA/AVN BOTH APPEAR TO DEVELOP VORT CENTER WITH CONVECTIVE COMPLEX OVER WESTERN IOWA WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THIS TRACKS NORTHEAST ALONG THE FRONT THURSDAY MORNING...WITH ABOUT A HALF INCH OF QPF THURSDAY MORNING. WILL CONTINUE CHANCE POPS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE. FEEL FRONT MAY NOT PUSH AS FAR SOUTH AS AVN TAKES IT INTO FRIDAY...BUT WITH LIGHT WIND FIELD AND NO STRONG VORTS AT THAT TIME...FEEL CONVECTION SHOULD BE GENERALLY CONFINED CLOSER TO BOUNDARY WHICH WILL LIKELY BE OVER CENTRAL IL/IND. IN EXTENDED...UPPER HIGH OVER SOUTHERN PLAINS RETROGRADES...WITH RIDGE EXTENDING BACK INTO THE WESTERN GREAT LAKES LATER IN THE PERIOD. AVN SHOWS A VORT DROPPING SOUTHEAST ACROSS WISCONSIN SATURDAY...BUT FOR NOW WILL KEEP DRY EXTENDED. WILL GO ABOUT A CATEGORY ABOVE MEX/FMR GUIDANCE...AS 850 TEMPS DONT FALL BELOW 17 DEG C. EXCEPTION WILL BE LAKE SHORE AREAS CH1ICAGO METRO...WHERE NORTHEAST/EAST FLOW SHOULD ALLOW A LITTLE LAKE COOLING. THANKS MKE/ILX/DVN FOR COORDINATION. .CHI...HEAT ADVISORY OUTSIDE CHI METRO. EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH CHI METRO WED. RATZER
Event by event
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
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, Cook | 2001-08-02 | 40 | 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
- Heat in Missouri, August 1 to 5, 2001
- Heat in Missouri, August 1 to 9, 2001
- Heat in Missouri, August 1 to 2, 2001
- Drought in Iowa, August 1 to 23, 2001
- Heat in Minnesota, August 1, 2001
- Flooding in North Dakota, August 1 to 31, 2001
- High Wind in Florida, August 1, 2001
- Heat in Texas, August 1, 2001
- Heat in Louisiana, August 1, 2001
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Wisconsin, August 1 to 2, 2001
- Wildfire in California, August 1 to 31, 2001
- Lightning Strike in South Dakota, August 1 to 8, 2001
More
Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, August 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: 5264191.