3 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 26, 1:30 AM CST, 11 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 230 AM CDT SAT MAY 26 2001 FCST CHALLENGES CONTINUE TO BE RAIN CHANCES AND AFFECTS ON TEMPS NEXT FEW DAYS WITH UPPER LEVEL LOW SPINNING ACROSS MIDWEST. W/V IMAGERY INDICATING MAIN UPPER LEVEL CIRCULATION CENTER NEAR CENTRAL LAKE MICH WITH A SERIES OF S/W'S ROTATING AROUND UPPER LOW. ONE S/W OF INTEREST MOVING THRU CENT MN. 06Z SFC ANALYSIS SHOWING ASSOCIATED SFC LOW CENTER ACROSS EXTREME SE MN/NE IA. MOSAIC RADAR LOOP SHOWING BAND OF PERISISTANT RAINS EXTENDING FROM CENT MN THRU CENT IA AND INTO CENT/SRN IL....JUST SOUTH OF A SPI-MTO LINE. MODELS SIMILAR ONCE AGAIN WITH EVOLUTION OF SYSTEM INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. NEXT S/W OF INTEREST DROPPING SOUTH FROM CENT MN WITH ASSOCIATED SFC LOW INTO SE MN/NE IA. THIS SYSTEM EXPECTED TO DROP SE TOWARD AREA TODAY. DECENT OMEGA DEVELOPS ACROSS MOST OF CENT IL BY MIDDAY TODAY ALONG WITH INCREASED LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE. WIDESPREAD QPF NOTED ON BOTH ETA/AVN LOOKS RSBL WITH THIS SCENARIO. WILL GO CATAGORICAL ON PCPN TODAY WITH PERIODS OF RAIN AS PCPN TO SW OF AREA SHIFTS NE ACROSS AREA AND ENHANCES AHEAD OF S/W. IMBEDDED THUNDER ALSO STILL POSSIBLE GIVEN AVAILABLE INSTABILITY. THIS S/W SHIFTS EAST OF AREA BY 06Z SUN...MOSTLY ENDING PCPN ACROSS AREA DURING EVE. YET ANOTHER S/W...WITH SIMILAR TIMING AS TODAY...DROPS DOWN FOR SUN. THIS ONE WILL BE FURTHER NORTH. ALTHOUGH STILL SOME WEAK OMEGA DEVELOPS AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM FOR ANOTHER CHANCE PCPN. WILL NEED TO ALSO MONITOR ANOTHER S/W INDICATED FOR LATER IN THE PERIOD ON MON...WILL KEEP DRY FCST FOR NOW FOR MEMORIAL DAY...BUT THIS WILL NEED TO BE MONITORED AS WELL. TEMPS WILL CONTINUE TO BE TRICKY...DEPENDING ON EXTENT OF PCPN AND CLOUDS. TEMPS TODAY LIKELY TO STRUGGLE...WITH MORE WIDESPREAD PCPN EXPECTED. MAY NEED TO DROP TEMPS DOWN A NOTCH...ESP NORTH. GRADUAL MODERATION IN TEMPS LOOKS RSBL INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK WITH LESS PCPN AND CLOUDS AS UPPER LOW MAKES SLOW TRACKS NE AND AWAY FROM AREA. ...PRELIMINARY CCF FOR COORDINATION PURPOSES ONLY... SPI RB 062/049 068/049 073 36+44 PIA RB 061/048 067/048 072 36+44 DEC RB 061/050n 068/048 072 36+44 CMI RB 061/048 067/047 072 36+44 MTO RB 062/050 070/050 073 36+44 LWV RB 065/053 072/051 075 36744 .ILX...NONE. FRIEDERS
ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-271100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR CENTRAL ILLINOIS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 1025 AM CDT SAT MAY 26 2001 THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. AN AREA OF SURFACE LOW PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO TRACK EASTWARD THROUGH NORTHERN ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON. THIS LOW WILL HELP IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS OUR REGION THIS AFTERNOON... CONTINUING INTO THE EVENING. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THE GREATEST THREAT. THEREFORE...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. PLAHMER
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:28 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
In Chatham, thunderstorm winds blew a 50 foot by 50 foot section of a metal roof off of a storage facility. Also, on the south side of Springfield a large tree was blown down and another one was uprooted.
A large tree limb was blown down in town, as well as several power lines.
Thunderstorm winds snapped off a three foot diameter tree in Ludlow and fell onto a trailer home. No one was in the home at the time. In Champaign, several large tree limbs were blown down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2001
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: 5248923, 5248922, 5248924.