Name: Damaging Wind in Illinois, August 2, 2001
Start: 2001-08-02T09:55
End: 2001-08-02T09:55
Location: Illinois

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: 0
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.

Two 400 pound sticks of plastic were picked up and blown across a street.

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 Aug 2, 3:05 AM CST, 6 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 2, 3:05 AM CST, 6 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
330 AM CDT THU AUG 2 2001

THUNDERSTORMS THAT DROPPED SOUTHEAST OUT OF SOUTHERN WI LAST EVENING
DIDN'T GET TOO FAR INTO NORTHERN IL BEFORE WEAKENING. EVEN THE
LINGERING SHOWERS IN NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL IL HAVE ALL BUT
DISSIPATED. FRONTAL BOUNDARY EARLY THIS MORNING EXTENDING FROM
EASTERN LAKE SUPERIOR SOUTHWESTWARD ACROSS WI AND IA TO SOUTH
CENTRAL NEB WITH 3 DISTINCT AREAS OF ACTIVE CONVECTION...CENTRAL
HIGH PLAINS...NORTHERN IA AND SOUTHERN WI...WITH SOME FILLING IN
ALONG THE FRONT FROM WI TO IA. COMPARED TO CURRENT RADAR AND
SATELLITE IT APPEARS THAT THE AVN MODEL HAS THE BEST HANDLE ON THE
SITUATION PER ITS QPF...OMEGA AND ISENTROPIC FIELDS. FOLLOWING AVN
BRINGS UVV AND QPF MAX SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OUT OF SOUTHERN WI...ACROSS
NORTHEAST IL AND TO EAST CENTRAL IL AND NORTHWEST IND BY EVENING AS
SHORT WAVE ROTATES AROUND UPPER RIDGE ON SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF
WESTERLIES. SOME HEAVIER RAINS POSSIBLE WITH SLOW MOVING CELL
MOVEMENT INDICATED ALONG WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER OF 2 TO 2 1/2
INCHES. FRONT TO ONLY MAKE SLOW PROGRESS AND AGAIN PREFER AVN HERE
WHICH IS SLOWEST IN PUSHING IT INTO NORTHWESTERN AND FAR
NORTHEASTERN IL THIS AFTERNOON...AND EVENTUALLY INTO CENTRAL IL
OVERNIGHT. CLOUDS AND LOCALLY COOLED AIR FROM TSRA SHOULD KEEP TEMPS
IN THE 85 TO 90 DEGREE RANGE. DEW POINTS STILL HIGH BUT HEAT INDEX
VALUES WILL BE BELOW HEADLINE THRESHOLD. WILL STILL KEEP MENTION OF
HUMID CONDITIONS IN FORECAST THOUGH. SLIGHTLY COOLER AND DRIER AIR
TO ARRIVE FRIDAY AS THE SURFACE RIDGE AND ITS LOWER 60S DEW POINTS
CURRENTLY OVER THE DAKOTAS MOVES EAST INTO THE WESTERN LAKES REGION.

.CHI...NONE.

TRS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 2, 5:18 AM CST, 4 hours 37 minutes before

ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>002-010>011-019-
021700-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
600 AM CDT/EST THU AUG 2 2001

FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

THERE WILL BE SOME THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT AS IT
SLOWLY MOVES SOUTHEASTWARD INTO NORTHERN ILLINOIS...BUT THEY ARE NOT
EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE.  THE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTHERN
ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA TONIGHT...ENDING THE THREAT OF STORMS
THIS EVENING.  AS HIGH PRESSURE MOVES EAST INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST
FRIDAY...A LITTLE COOLER AND DRIER AIR WILL SPREAD INTO TmHE AREA.

TRS

The radar

The Chicago radar (KLOT), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:04 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Livingston

When: August 2, 9:55 AM CST
Where: Livingston County, Chatsworth
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph)
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 40.750, -88.283

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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, 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: 5264194.