High Wind in Illinois, March 13, 2001

Name: High Wind in Illinois, March 13, 2001
Start: 2001-03-13T09:00
End: 2001-03-13T17:00
Location: Illinois

March 13, 2001 · NWS LSX · 17 events in 17 counties and zones

A strong low pressure system moving across the Great Lakes made for a windy day across the region. Winds were generally 20 to 40 mph with gusts from 40 to 50 mph.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 17 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 17

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 LSX wrote it up.

A strong low pressure system moving across the Great Lakes made for a windy day across the region. Winds were generally 20 to 40 mph with gusts from 40 to 50 mph. Scattered reports of tree, roof shingle and sign damage were common across the area.

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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 13, 3:20 AM CST, 5 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 13, 3:20 AM CST, 5 hours 40 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
320 AM CST TUE MAR 13 2001

SPLIT FLOW PATTERN CONT OVR U.S. DOUBLE BARRELED S/WVS IN NRN FLOW
RACING ESEWD THRU GRT LAKES. 1ST S/W PUSHED CDFNT E OF CWA OVERNGT
TAKING MOISTURE WITH IT WHILE 2ND ON ROTATING SEWD FM DAKOTAS INTO
IL TDA. THIS WL SERVE TO TIGHTEN SFC GRAD OVR AREA BRINGING WINDY
COND TO AREA. LOW/MID CLDS BEING WHIPPED SEWD BHD SYS AND HV DROPPED
INTO ERN 2/3 OF IOWA AND EXTRM NRN PTNS OF CWA ATTM WITH A FEW
SPRINKLES IN IA.

SYS IS RACING EWD ENOUGH THAT ONLY NRN FEW COUNTIES WILL DART IN AND
OUT OF CLDS PARTICULARLY THIS MRNG BUT THINK PCPN WILL REMAIN N OF
CWA. COLDER LOW LVL AIR AND FEW HRS OF CLDS IN THOSE NRN COUNTIES
WILL PROBABLY KEEP HIGHS IN THE 40S THERE.

TIGHTENING GRAD AND UNILATERAL WND DIRECTIONS WILL RESULT IN WINDY
COND THRU MID DAY WITH GRAD RELAXING BY EVE ACRS AREA. WILL MENT
WINDY BUT REFRAIN FROM ADVISORIES ATTM.

NEXT THING TO LOOK AT IS TWO SYSTEMS...CLOSED LOW OPENING UP IN SWRN
US...AND STG S/W RACING ONTO BRITISH COLUMBIA COAST THEN SEWD TWD
MIDWEST. AVN AND ETA HANDLE THESE TWO SYSTEMS QUITE DIFFERENTLY.
AVN HAS NRN SYS MUCH DEEPER LOWERING HGTS UP TO 120 METERS LOWER
THAN ETA OVR UPPER MISS VALLEY BY THUR MRNG RESULTING IN DEEPER
NORTHERN SFC LOW WHICH DRIVES COLDER AIR IN MORE QUICKLY.  ON THE
OTHER HAND THE ETA DEVELOPS THE SRN STREAM LOW A LITTLE MORE
INTENSELY AND THIS IN TURN CREATES CONSIDERABLE CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY
AND SGFNT PCPN EVENT FOR SRN MISS VALLEY. SHOULD THIS HAPPEN THE
BACKSIDE OF THE LOW WILL SHUNT RETURN MOISTURE OFF FROM OUR CWA AND
CREATE LESS WARMING/LESS MOISTURE/ETC.

LATEST MESOETA FOLLOWS THIS THINKING AND NGM ALSO HEADED IN THAT
DIRECTION SO GUESS WILL GO WITH ETA THIS FCST. MESOETA DOES DEVELOP
SOME PRETTY GOOD OMEGA ALONG THE I-44 CORRIDER BY END OF FCST PERIOD
AND PARTICULARLY WED NIGHT SO WL INTRODUCE CHC POPS TMW IN WRN CWA
WITH LIKELY CATS TMW NGT AT COU/STL.

EXTENDED RANGE IS A HODGE-PODGE WITH NO AGREEMENT BETWEEN MODELS SO
WILL PROB NOT CHG THINGS MUCH AS TOO MANY UNCERTAINTIES.

.STL...NONE.

PEDIGO

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

17 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Greene

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Greene forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.356, -90.390 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Jersey

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Jersey forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.086, -90.357 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Macoupin

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Macoupin forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.261, -89.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Madison

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Madison forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.830, -89.905 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Marion

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Marion forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.650, -88.919 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Monroe

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Monroe forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.279, -90.177 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Montgomery

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.231, -89.479 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Pike

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Pike forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.623, -90.886 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Randolph

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Randolph forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.052, -89.825 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, St. Clair

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: St. Clair forecast zone
Measured: 45 kt (52 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.470, -89.928 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Adams

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Adams forecast zone
Measured: 38 kt (44 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.988, -91.188 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Bond

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Bond forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.887, -89.436 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Brown

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Brown forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.962, -90.750 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Calhoun

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Calhoun forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.169, -90.667 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Clinton

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Clinton forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.607, -89.422 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Fayette

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Fayette forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 39.000, -89.024 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Washington

When: March 13, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Measured: 40 kt (46 mph)
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 38.352, -89.410 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, March 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: 5236395, 5236396, 5236397, 5236398, 5236500, 5236501, 5236502, 5236503, 5236504, 5236505, 5236543, 5236544, 5236545, 5236546, 5236547, 5236548, 5236549.