Heat, Cook
- When
- July 21, 8:00 PM CST to July 24, 8:00 PM CST
- Where
- Cook forecast zone
- Deaths
- 10 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- GOVT OFFICIAL
Heat in Illinois, July 21 to 24, 2001
An excessive heat watch was issued on Friday, July 20th and an excessive heat warning was issued on Saturday, July 21st. The high temperature at Ohare Airport was 93 on both July 20th and 21st, 95 on July 22nd, 92 on July 23rd and 90 on July 24th.
The toll
- Deaths
- 10
- 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 Friday, July 20th and an excessive heat warning was issued on Saturday, July 21st. The high temperature at Ohare Airport was 93 on both July 20th and 21st, 95 on July 22nd, 92 on July 23rd and 90 on July 24th. Daytime heat indices ranged between 100 and 107 degrees on July 20th through July 23rd. Midway Airport recorded the warmest temperature during this heat wave, 97 degrees during the afternoon of Sunday, July 22nd. On July 21st, a 58 year old man drowned after suffering a heat stroke along the Lake Michigan shore in Chicago.
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 21, 1:45 PM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 21, 1:45 PM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 245 PM CDT SAT JUL 21 2001 THE NUMBERS ARE IN FOR TOMORROW AND MAY BE A BIT OVERDONE CONSIDERING RH AND RANDOM CLOUD COVER. MCS DEVELPMENT IN SRN MN AND IA NOT PICKED UP ON MODELS. CORFIDI VECTORS WOULD SUGGEST STUFF IN SRN MN EARMARKED FOR NRN IL THIS EVENING AND ERLY TONIGHT. IF LITTLE PCPN BY THE TIME IT ARRIVES...WILL BE MORE CLOUD COVER TO KEEP TEMPS UP TONIGHT AND DEPARTING BY MRNG TO ALLOW GOOD AMOUNT OF SUNSHINE. WITH THAT IN MIND...TEMPS SHOULD HAVE LITTLE PROBLEM REACHING 90+ AGAIN ON SUNDAY. THUS WILL UPGRADE EXCESSIVE HEAT WATCH TO WARNING TO BE IN EFFECT SUNDAY. 850 THERMAL RIDGE EDGING EAST OVER NWRN IL TMRW AND JUSTIFYING WARMER TEMPS FOR THE AREA WEST OF CHI. RFD ALREADY REACHED 92 WITH GOOD PROSPECT OF 95 TMRW. THIS CUD MEAN HI VALUES AROUND 105. COORDINATION WITH SURROUNDING WFO'S SUGGEST ADVISORY FOR ALL CWA WITH WARNING CRITERIA FOR THE 8 COUNTY CHICAGO AREA. THIS RIDGE EDGES FURTHER EAST MONDAY WITH ENHANCED 850 JET. IF NO PCPN OR THICK CLOUD COVER...CUD CONTINUE HEAT WRNG/ADV INTO MONDAY. NOW FOR PCPN. STILL SOME SPORADIC SHOWERS DEVELOPING IN AREA...BUT LARGER CONCERN IS AREA IN MN AND IA...WHICH APPEARS TO BE DYING. WLL PUT IN CHC TNGT FOR SHWERS 30%...BUT LEAVE OUT TOMORROW. BETTER DYNAMICS APPEARING SUNDAY NIGHT WITH NEARLY ADIABATIC LAPSE BELOW 800 MB...SHEARED WIND PROFILE...AND CAPES AROUND 4K. QUESTION IS WILL IT CONT (CLDS AND/OR PCPN) INTO MONDAY. MODELS SAY THERE IS A CHC ON MONDAY WITH TROF MOVING THRU MONDAY EVENING. THERMAL RIDGE NOT MOVING SOUTH OF AREA UNTIL TUESDAY NIGHT WITH ACTUAL PASSAGE OF COLD FRONT. THUS TUESDAY COULD BE ANOTHER EXTENSION OF HOT WEATHER. AVN BRING FNT THRU DRY ON TUESDAY WHICH SEEMS ODD AND WILL KEEP CHC GOING. NE WINDS OVER AREA THRU FRIDAY SHUD KEEP RETURN MOISTURE SOUTH OF AREA...PSBLY RAINING ACRS NWRN AND CNTL IL. MAY RETURN CHC RAIN TO AREA FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. .CHI...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING FOR SUNDAY CHICAGO AREA/EXCESSIVE HEAT ADV FOR SUNDAY REST OF CWA. BRUMER
In the hours before
Local storm report, Jul 21, 5:39 PM CST, 2 hours 21 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
639 PM CDT SAT JUL 21 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
w
0610 PM MONEE IL WIND DAMAGE
07/21/01 WILL TREES DOWN. REPORTED BY
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Local storm report, Jul 21, 5:43 PM CST, 2 hours 17 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
643 PM CDT SAT JUL 21 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0640 PM ORLAND PARK IL MPH TSTM GUST
07/21/01 COOK 60 MPH GUST. REPORTED
BY STORM SPOTTER.Local storm report, Jul 21, 7:15 PM CST, 45 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
815 PM CDT SAT JUL 21 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0640 PM ORLAND PARK IL WIND DAMAGE
07/21/01 COOK 12 INCH DIAMETER TREE
DOWN NEAR 159 STREET
AND WOLF. REPORTED BY
STORM SPOTTER.
0800 PM 3 E BEAVERVILLE IL WIND DAMAGE
07/21/01 IROQUOIS TREE DOWN. REPORTED BY
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.Local storm report, Jul 21, 7:31 PM CST, 29 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
831 PM CDT SAT JUL 21 2001
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0817 PM 7 E ASHKUM IL WIND DAMAGE
07/21/01 IROQUOIS TREES DOWN. REPORTED
BY LAW ENFORCEMENT
OFFICIAL.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 | 2001-07-21 | 58 | Male | In Water | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-22 | 58 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-22 | 73 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-22 | 79 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-22 | 56 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-23 | 76 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-24 | 75 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-25 | 71 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-21 | 44 | Male | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Heat, Cook | 2001-07-23 | 43 | 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, July 21 to 24, 2001
- Heat in Wisconsin, July 21 to 22, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Michigan, July 21, 2001
- Flash Flood and Flood in Illinois, July 21, 2001
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Montana, July 21 to 22, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Alabama, July 21, 2001
- Damaging Wind in South Dakota, July 21, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Michigan, July 21, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, July 21, 2001
- Flood in Alaska, July 21 to 23, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Florida, July 21, 2001
- Flash Flood and Hail in North Dakota, July 21, 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: 5258230.