1 tornado, 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 Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 26, 1:30 PM CST, 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 230 PM CDT SAT MAY 26 2001 WELL DEFINED VORT MAX JUST SE OF QUAD CITIES SHOWS UP WELL ON SATELLITE LOOPS AND RADAR LOOP. WIDESPREAD CLOUD COVER AND STRATIFORM RAIN OVER NRN IL. SOUTH OF TRACK OF VORT/SURFACE LOW...AMS MORE UNSTABLE. LATEST LAPS SHOWING CAPES OF 400 TO 1200 FROM CENTRAL IL TO CENTRAL IN. BAND OF CONVECTION RACING ACROSS CENTRAL IL WITH MORE SCATTERED CONVECTION DEVELOPING WEST CENTRAL IL AND NRN MO. COLD ALOFT AND FAIRLY STRONG WIND FIELDS...SO GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL POSSIBLE OVER SOUTHERN TIER OF COUNTIES THROUGH LATE AFTERNOON HOURS. VORT MAX AND SURFACE LOW SHOULD REACH NW IN BY EARLY EVENING. WITH VORT MOVING OUT AND SUNSET COMING...CONVECTION SHOULD MOVE OUT/DIE DOWN RAPIDLY THIS EVENING. TO THE NORTH...STRATIFORM RAIN SHOULD GRADUALLY PIVOT AROUND AND SHOULD END IN N CENTRAL IL EARLY THIS EVENING BUT MAY LINGER A WHILE IN NE IL/NW IN. THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY. DESPITE WET GROUND AND SOME LATE NIGHT CLEARING...THINK THERE WILL BE ENOUGH NW FLOW TO PREVENT SIGNIFICANT FOG. TONIGHT AND SUNDAY UPPER LOW MOVES INTO LOWER MICHIGAN. A LITTLE BIT DRIER NW FLOW SUNDAY. MODEL SOUNDINGS SHOW AMS NOT AS UNSTABLE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AS PAST FEW DAYS...BUT WE WILL STILL BE IN VICINITY OF UPPER LOW. WITH SOME SOLAR HEATING AND STILL COOL AIR ALOFT...AND CYCLONIC FLOW...WILL KEEP SMALL CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN FORECAST....BUT PROBABLY NOT AS WIDESPREAD AS PAST FEW DAYS. UPPER LOW FINALLY MOVES INTO ERN CANADA BY MONDAY. A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY IN EXTENDED SO WILL GO WITH NCEP GUIDANCE FOR NOW. .CHI...NONE. ALLSOPP
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>002-010>011-019- 271700- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 1200 PM CDT/EST SAT MAY 26 2001 FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA... NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH MONDAY. LOW PRESSURE NEAR THE QUAD CITIES AT NOON...WILL MOVE EAST ALONG THE INTERSTATE 80 CORRIDOR THIS AFTERNOON...REACHING NORTHWEST INDIANA BY EVENING. THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BRING EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER AND A LARGE BAND OF RAIN TO MUCH OF THE AREA. THE CLOUD COVER WILL LIMIT SOLAR HEATING AND LIMIT THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON. AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM IS POSSIBLE NORTH OF THE BAND OF RAIN NEAR THE WISCONSIN STATE LINE...AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ON THE SOUTH EDGE OF THE RAIN AREA OVER LIVINGSTON...FORD...IROQUOIS...AND BENTON COUNTIES...A FEW OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS. RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DIMINISH THIS EVENING. THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME UNSTABLE ENOUGH SUNDAY FOR MORE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. ISOLATED SMALL HAIL IS POSSIBLE BUT SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. THE LOW WILL FINALLY MOVE EAST OF THE AREA MONDAY AND WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL DEVELOP ENDING THE THREAT OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. ALLSOPP
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:12 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A spotter reported that a tornado briefly touched down at a farm just south of Papineau. Tree limbs and power lines were knocked down and a barn was damaged. Debris was scattered over several acres.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 2001Warnings 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: 5241265.