Name: Damaging Wind in Illinois, September 7, 2001
Start: 2001-09-07T19:05
End: 2001-09-07T19:05
Location: Illinois

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: 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 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 Sep 7, 2:15 PM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 7, 2:15 PM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
315 PM CDT FRI SEP 7 2001

WELL...HAVE BACKED OFF ON POPS FOR CHI AREA BASED ON CURRENT SATLT
TRENDS THAT SHOW NOTABLE LACK OF CU DVLPMT FROM CHI SWWD ACROSS WRN
IL/E CNTRL MO.  MSAS GRAPHICS HAVE DONE WELL DEPICTING MINIMUM OF
MOISTURE CONVERGENCE IN THE RGN AS WELL.  MOST RECENT RUC CONTINUES
THIS TREND THRU THIS EVE SO WILL JUST GO WITH CHC POPS FOR A LARGE
PART OF THE FA.  WILL KEEP MENTION IN SINCE AMD IS RATHER UNSTABLE
WITH TEMPS IN UPPER 80S AND  DWPTS IN UPR 60S-LWR 70S.  ALSO 88-D
RADAR SHOWS NWWD MOVG OUTFLO BOUNDARY FROM NR PONTIAC TO GARY.  A
FEW SMALL CELLS DVLPD ON THIS BOUNDARY OVER LAKE CO IN A LTL EARLIER
AND ADDITIONAL DVLPMT WILL REMAIN PSBL THRU THE EVENING HRS.  WILL
GO WITH UNQUALIFIED MENTION OF TSTMS OVER SERN COUNTIES WHERE TSTMS
ARE ONGOING.  AM EXPECTING THIS ACTIVITY TO DIMINISH AS THE EVENING
WEARS ON SINCE IT IS MAINLY DUIRNALLY DRIVEN.   WILL ALSO GO WITH
HIER POPS /LIKELY CAT/ OVER N CNTRL IL IN RFD VCNTY.   CLUSTER OF
STG/SVR TSTMS OVER CNTRL IA ATTM WILL CONT NEWD AND SHOULD CLIP NWRN
COUNTIES LATER THIS EVE.

ON SAT...ETA AND AVN NOW IN BETTER AGREEMENT ON TIMING OF VORT MAX
AND COLD FROPA.  VORT LOBE FCST TO PASS THRU AREA ARND 18Z SAT AND
THIS SHOULD CONCENTRATE SHWRS/TSTMS DURING MRNG HRS AND LIMIT DVLPMT
IN AFTN.   SFC WAVE GOES BY ERLY SAT EVE FOLLOWED BY TEMPORARY
DRYING AND NWLY-NLY SFC FLO.  ON SUN...CLOUDINESS EXPCTED TO INCRS
AGAIN AS BOTH ETA AND AVN SWING SIG S/W AROUND BASE OF H5 TROF.  SFC
WAVE FCST TO DVLP ALG FRONT SUN NGT-MON WITH UPR LO PASSING S OF FA
ON MON.  /OH...IF ONLY THIS WERE DEC.../ ANYWAY...AM SOMEWHAT
SKEPTICAL OF THIS SCENARIO DUE TO TIME OF YR BUT WILL HAVE PRECIP IN
FOR SUN NGT-MON.

.CHI...NONE

MERZLOCK

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:12 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Winnebago

When: September 7, 7:05 PM CST
Where: Winnebago County, 3 mi SW of Rockton
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph)
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.417, -89.100

One tree blown down.

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Illinois in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, September 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: 5267515.