1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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 Aug 2, 3:05 AM CST, 7 hours 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 330 AM CDT THU AUG 2 2001 THUNDERSTORMS THAT DROPPED SOUTHEAST OUT OF SOUTHERN WI LAST EVENING DIDN'T GET TOO FAR INTO NORTHERN IL BEFORE WEAKENING. EVEN THE LINGERING SHOWERS IN NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL IL HAVE ALL BUT DISSIPATED. FRONTAL BOUNDARY EARLY THIS MORNING EXTENDING FROM EASTERN LAKE SUPERIOR SOUTHWESTWARD ACROSS WI AND IA TO SOUTH CENTRAL NEB WITH 3 DISTINCT AREAS OF ACTIVE CONVECTION...CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS...NORTHERN IA AND SOUTHERN WI...WITH SOME FILLING IN ALONG THE FRONT FROM WI TO IA. COMPARED TO CURRENT RADAR AND SATELLITE IT APPEARS THAT THE AVN MODEL HAS THE BEST HANDLE ON THE SITUATION PER ITS QPF...OMEGA AND ISENTROPIC FIELDS. FOLLOWING AVN BRINGS UVV AND QPF MAX SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OUT OF SOUTHERN WI...ACROSS NORTHEAST IL AND TO EAST CENTRAL IL AND NORTHWEST IND BY EVENING AS SHORT WAVE ROTATES AROUND UPPER RIDGE ON SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF WESTERLIES. SOME HEAVIER RAINS POSSIBLE WITH SLOW MOVING CELL MOVEMENT INDICATED ALONG WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER OF 2 TO 2 1/2 INCHES. FRONT TO ONLY MAKE SLOW PROGRESS AND AGAIN PREFER AVN HERE WHICH IS SLOWEST IN PUSHING IT INTO NORTHWESTERN AND FAR NORTHEASTERN IL THIS AFTERNOON...AND EVENTUALLY INTO CENTRAL IL OVERNIGHT. CLOUDS AND LOCALLY COOLED AIR FROM TSRA SHOULD KEEP TEMPS IN THE 85 TO 90 DEGREE RANGE. DEW POINTS STILL HIGH BUT HEAT INDEX VALUES WILL BE BELOW HEADLINE THRESHOLD. WILL STILL KEEP MENTION OF HUMID CONDITIONS IN FORECAST THOUGH. SLIGHTLY COOLER AND DRIER AIR TO ARRIVE FRIDAY AS THE SURFACE RIDGE AND ITS LOWER 60S DEW POINTS CURRENTLY OVER THE DAKOTAS MOVES EAST INTO THE WESTERN LAKES REGION. .CHI...NONE. TRS
ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032>033-039-INZ001>002-010>011-019- 021700- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 600 AM CDT/EST THU AUG 2 2001 FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT. THERE WILL BE SOME THUNDERSTORMS TODAY AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT AS IT SLOWLY MOVES SOUTHEASTWARD INTO NORTHERN ILLINOIS...BUT THEY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE. THE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH NORTHERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA TONIGHT...ENDING THE THREAT OF STORMS THIS EVENING. AS HIGH PRESSURE MOVES EAST INTO THE UPPER MIDWEST FRIDAY...A LITTLE COOLER AND DRIER AIR WILL SPREAD INTO TmHE AREA. TRS
The Chicago radar (KLOT), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:10 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a tree, went down a security wire which was nailed to the tree, blew out wall sockets in a garage, traveled underground, blew out a light and a pump in a pool and finally struck a gas meter , but did not cause a fire.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, August 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: 5262726.