Illinois, 2001

Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, June 14, 2001

June 14, 2001 · NWS LOT · 16 events in 13 counties and zones

A line of thunderstorms developed in west central and northwest Illinois during the late afternoon and early evening of Thursday June 14th. This line raced eastward across north central and northeast Illinois.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$42,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
16

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 line of thunderstorms developed in west central and northwest Illinois during the late afternoon and early evening of Thursday June 14th. This line raced eastward across north central and northeast Illinois. The main damage from this line of storms was in the form of trees and limbs down, as well as power lines and utility poles down. Locations where these reports were received include: Dixon in Lee county; Triumph and Mendota in La Salle county; Rochelle in Ogle county; across all of Winnebago county; Newark in Kendall county; Kirkland in De Kalb county; Harvard in McHenry county; Belvidere in Boone county; across all of Kane county; Frankfort in Will county; Lincolnshire in Lake county; and Franklin Park and Matteson in Cook county.Windows were blown out of a house from high winds in Mendota in La Salle county at 1855 CST. A 100 foot tall tower was blown down in Rockford in Winnebago county at 1910 CST. A large tree limb crushed the roof and broke out the windshield of a car in Fountain Creek in Iroquois county at 1930 CST. Also in Fountain Creek, an electric box was ripped off a house when power lines came down and heavy wooden playground set was torn out of the ground and pushed into a fence. A utility pole with a transformer was blown down 2 miles north of Lincolnshire in Lake county at 2005 CST. About 12,000 customers lost power in the greater Rockford area with about 40,000 customers losing power in Chicago and the suburbs. Some funnel clouds were reported on the leading edge of the line of storms as it moved east. The thunderstorms weakened over northeast Illinois shortly after 8 pm CST. No injuries were reported from the storms.

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 Jun 14, 1:40 PM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 14, 1:40 PM CST, 4 hours 36 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
240 PM CDT THU JUN 14 2001

COLD FRONT EXTENDS FROM SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA SOUTH THRU CENTRAL
PLAINS INTO EASTERN KS AND HASN/T MADE MUCH PROGRESS THIS AFTERNOON.
TEMPS WARMED TO 90+ ALL AREAS TODAY. CONVECTION OVER EASTERN IA
PUSHING NORTH AND SLOWLY DRIFTING EAST. MORE CONVECTION FIRING BACK
THRU MO AND KS.

AS SURFACE LOW DEEPENS OVER MN AND S/W EJECTS FROM SOUTHERN PLAINS
EARLY FRIDAY...FRONT SHOULD START PICK UP ITS PACE SOME. BUT MODELS
DIFFER ON SPEED AND HAVE SLOWED MORE SINCE 00Z RUNS. AVN FASTEST
WITH ETA SLOWER...AND ETA MAY STILL BE TOO FAST. WILL TREND TOWARD
THE ETA...BUT SLOWER. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES APPROACH 2 INCHES
TONIGHT WESTERN IL AND WILL MENTION HEAVY RAINFALL NORTHWEST FA
TONIGHT. FOR REST OF IL COUNTIES...WILL GO LIKELY TONIGHT AND LIKELY
AFTER MIDNIGHT FOR INDIANA COUNTIES. FOR FRI...CHANCE POPS NORTHWEST
TO LIKELY NORTHEAST AND INDIANA COUNTIES ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST.

AS FOR SVR POTENTIAL...STORMS ENTERING FA LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND
THIS EVENING WILL HAVE PLENTY TO WORK WITH AS DEWPOINTS NEAR 70 AND
MESOETA SHOWING CAPES WELL ABOVE 2000. BUT BEST DYNAMICS REMAIN WEST
OF FA. SVR STORMS WILL BE LIMITED WITH MAIN THREAT WIND AND HEAVY
RAIN NORTHWEST GROUP AS MENTIONED ABOVE. AS DAYTIME HEATING IS
LOST...THREAT OF SVR DECREASES FROM WEST TO EAST PER SPC DY1.

AS FOR TEMPS...WARM NIGHT IN STORE AND WILL STAY CLOSE TONIGHT.
WITH CLOUD COVER OVER IA KEEPING TEMPS IN THE 70S. SUBSIDENCE SHOWN
ON TIME HEIGHTS BY LATE AFTERNOON. BUT WITH SLOWING TREND...CLOUDS
WILL STICK AROUND AND WILL GO COOLER THAN FWC AND TREND TOWARD MAV.
GUIDANCE CLOSE AND FOLLOWED LATER PERIODS.

EXTENDED...COULD BE ACTIVE EARLY WEEK IF AVN VERIFIES SHOWING MCS
DEVELOPMENT OVER PLAINS AND MIDWEST. WILL INTRODUCE CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY AND TUESDAY.

THANKS FOR CORD...MKX...ILX...DVN.

.CHI...NONE.

CMS

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:18 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

13 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Lee

When
June 14, 6:16 PM CST
Where
Lee County, Dixon
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
41.833, -89.483

Thunderstorm Wind, La Salle

When
June 14, 6:25 PM CST to 6:55 PM CST
Where
La Salle County, Triumph
Measured
55 kt (63 mph)
Property damage
$2,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.500, -89.017

Hail, Lee

When
June 14, 6:30 PM CST
Where
Lee County, Franklin Grove
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.833, -89.300

Thunderstorm Wind, Ogle

When
June 14, 6:30 PM CST to 6:40 PM CST
Where
Ogle County, 2 mi E of Oregon
Measured
52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.017, -89.300

Funnel Cloud, La Salle

When
June 14, 6:35 PM CST
Where
La Salle County, 7 mi W of Streator
Reported by
AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates
41.344, -88.886 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Hail, La Salle

When
June 14, 6:40 PM CST
Where
La Salle County, Marseilles
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.333, -88.717

Thunderstorm Wind, Winnebago

When
June 14, 6:40 PM CST to 7:15 PM CST
Where
Winnebago County, Countywide
Measured
55 kt (63 mph)
Property damage
$25,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
42.317, -89.133

Thunderstorm Wind, Kendall

When
June 14, 6:50 PM CST
Where
Kendall County, Newark
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.533, -88.583

Thunderstorm Wind, McHenry

When
June 14, 7:15 PM CST
Where
McHenry County, Harvard
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.417, -88.617

Thunderstorm Wind, De Kalb

When
June 14, 7:15 PM CST
Where
De Kalb County, Kirkland
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
42.083, -88.850

Thunderstorm Wind, Boone

When
June 14, 7:25 PM CST
Where
Boone County, Belvidere
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
42.250, -88.850

Thunderstorm Wind, Kane

When
June 14, 7:25 PM CST to 7:35 PM CST
Where
Kane County, Countywide
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
41.917, -88.367

Thunderstorm Wind, Iroquois

When
June 14, 7:30 PM CST
Where
Iroquois County, Fountain Creek
Measured
55 kt (63 mph)
Property damage
$15,000
Reported by
NEWSPAPER
Coordinates
40.517, -87.800

Thunderstorm Wind, Will

When
June 14, 7:37 PM CST to 7:50 PM CST
Where
Will County, New Lenox
Measured
52 kt (60 mph)
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
41.517, -87.967

Thunderstorm Wind, Lake

When
June 14, 8:05 PM CST to 8:10 PM CST
Where
Lake County, 2 mi N of Lincolnshire
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
42.217, -87.900

Thunderstorm Wind, Cook

When
June 14, 8:10 PM CST to 8:15 PM CST
Where
Cook County, Franklin Park
Measured
50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by
BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates
41.933, -87.817

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.
Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Funnel Cloud
A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, June 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: 5255589, 5255590, 5255869, 5255871, 5255870, 5255872, 5255873, 5255874, 5255875, 5255876, 5255877, 5255878, 5255882, 5255879, 5255880, 5255881.