Heat, Cook
- When
- July 17, 8:00 PM CST to July 18, 12:00 PM CST
- Where
- Cook forecast zone
- Deaths
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- GOVT OFFICIAL
Heat in Illinois, July 17 to 18, 2001
A 62 year old man died of heat stress in Wilmette on July 17th. The high temperature was 86 degrees with dewpoints in the lower to middle 70s and heat indices in the lower to middle 90s.
The toll
- Deaths
- 2
- 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.
A 62 year old man died of heat stress in Wilmette on July 17th. The high temperature was 86 degrees with dewpoints in the lower to middle 70s and heat indices in the lower to middle 90s. A 66 year old woman died of heat stress in Chicago on July 18th. The high temperature reached 85 degrees, with dewpoints in the lower 70s and heat indices around 90 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 17, 1:28 PM CST, 6 hours 32 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 17, 1:28 PM CST, 6 hours 32 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 228 PM CDT TUE JUL 17 2001 FORECAST PROBLEMS NUMEROUS THIS PACKAGE REGARDING WHERE MCS FIRES AND MOVES...OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES...DEBRIS CLOUDS AND EFFECTS ON TEMPS. LEFTOVER SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AM ALONG WITH CLOUDS KEEPING TEMPS MUCH COOLER. IN AREAS OF SUNSHINE...TEMPS HAVE WARMED CLOSE TO 90. SURGE OF MOISTURE HERE WITH DEWPOINTS NOW IN LOWER 70S. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW DIFFERENCES AND DISAGREEMENTS THRU THE PERIOD. AS NOTED BY PMDHMD AVN SHOWING OVERDONE VORT MAXES ACROSS THE REGION. AVN ALSO DEVELOPS SURFACE LOW LATER TONIGHT OVER EASTERN FA AREA AND MOVES IT EAST. NGM AND AVN SHOW WARM FRONT BECOMING STATIONARY AND EVEN MOVING SOUTH WITH EAST/SOUTHEAST FLOW. THIS REALLY NOT SHOWN ON ETA. HEIGHT FIELDS REMAIN BASICALLY THE SAME ON ALL MODELS KEEPING FA AREA ON THE FRINGE OF RING OF FIRE. CONVECTION CURRENTLY FIRING IN SOUTHEAST IA AND WEST CENTRAL IL WHERE SUNSHINE HAS WARMED TEMPS INTO 90S. EXPECT ANY EVENING CONVECTION TONIGHT TO REMAIN SOUTH OF I80. AREAS NORTH OF I80 WORKED OVER WELL. WILL HAVE CHANCE POPS WITH NO TIMING SOUTHERN FA. AS FOR MCS DEVELOPMENT TONIGHT...WILL GO ALONG WITH THE ETA WITH DEVELOPMENT AND PLACEMENT OVER CENTRAL MN AND MOVING SOUTHEAST OVERNIGHT. WILL KEEP CHANCE POPS FOR LATE TONIGHT WITH LEFTOVERS OF THIS MCS REACHING US WED AM. LEFTOVER BOUNDARIES FROM THIS ALONG WITH SHORTWAVE PASSING OVERHEAD AND CAPES 3000+ INDICATE BETTER CHANCE OF AFTERNOON CONVECTION WED BUT WITH LOW CONFIDENCE...WILL CONTINUE WITH CHANCE POPS. FOR LATER PERIODS WILL CONTINUE CHANCE POPS AND NOT GET SPECIFIC ON TIMING. TEMP FORECAST TOUGH AS PROVED TODAY. THOUGH LOWS SHOULDN/T BE HAS HARD TO FORECAST. MODELS SHOW DEWPOINTS AT OR ABOVE 70 THRU THE PERIOD AND LOWS AROUND 70 TO LOWER 70S CONSISTENT WITH GUIDANCE AND CURRENT ZONES. TEMPTED TO GO MIDDLE 90S FOR RFD AREA WED BUT WITH THREAT OF CONVECTION AND LEFTOVER DEBRIS CLOUDS WILL SPLIT GUIDANCE. WILL STAY CLOSE LATER PERIODS. EXTENDED...RIDGE BUILDS IN FRI AND SAT SO DRY FORECAST LOOKS GOOD. THICKNESSES AND HEIGHTS INCREASE. WILL BUMP UP HIGHS FROM MEX AND GOING FORECAST. RIDGE FLATTENS AS COLD FRONT APPROACHES SUNDAY. PRECIP MAY BE OUT OF FA AREA EARLY ON MONDAY BUT ON DAY 6 WILL PULL TIMING CURRENTLY IN ZONES. COOL DOWN BEHIND FRONT LOOKS SHORT LIVED AS RIDGE BUILDS BACK IN MID WEEK. THANKS FOR CORD ILX. .CHI...NONE. CMS
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 | 2001-07-17 | 62 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-18 | 66 | Female | 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
- Flash Flooding and Damaging Winds in Ohio, July 17 to 18, 2001
- Heat in Missouri, July 17 to 24, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, July 17, 2001
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in North Dakota, July 17, 2001
- Heat in Missouri, July 17 to 31, 2001
- Tornado in North Dakota, July 17, 2001
- Heat in Missouri, July 17, 2001
- Tornado in North Dakota, July 17, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Nebraska, July 17, 2001
- Tornadoes and Hail in Nebraska, July 17, 2001
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Montana, July 17 to 18, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Arizona, July 17, 2001
More
Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, July 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: 5258229.