Ice Storm and Winter Storm in Illinois, January 30 to 31, 2002

Name: Ice Storm and Winter Storm in Illinois, January 30 to 31, 2002
Start: 2002-01-30T10:00
End: 2002-01-31T14:00
Location: Illinois

January 30 to 31, 2002 · NWS ILX · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 10 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: 10

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 ILX wrote it up.

Near a quarter inch of ice accumulated across the extreme northern part of Mason County around Manito and Sand Ridge State Forest. Around a half inch of ice accumulated across Woodford county with local 1 inch amounts of ice near Eureka. Between a quarter and half inch of ice accumulated across the northern two thirds of Tazewell County. Around a quarter inch of ice accumulated across the northwest quarter of Schuyler county. Between a quarter and half inch of ice accumulated across the northern two thirds of McLean county. Between a quarter and half inch of ice accumulated across the northern two thirds of Fulton County. Between 6 and 9 inches of snow accumulated across Knox, Stark, Marshall and northern Peoria counties along with a quarter to half inch of ice. The southern half of Peoria county had around a half inch of ice along with 1 to 2 inches of snow. There were local three quarter to 1.5 inches of ice across higher terrain (Illinois River blufffs) near Mapleton. Several trees and power lines were downed from ice accumulations across Peoria and surrounding counties lasting from several hours to a couple of days.

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 Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 30, 3:15 AM CST, 6 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 30, 3:15 AM CST, 6 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
315 AM CST WED JAN 30 2002

MODELS AGAIN VERY SIMILAR WITH OVERALL HANDLING OF FRONT AND SYSTEM
LIFTING OUT OF SRN PLAINS THURSDAY. ALL MODELS PUSH ONE WAVE
THROUGH SRN IL THUR MORNING WITH MAIN WAVE MOVING INTO OH VLY THUR
NIGHT. HOWEVER AFTER 48HRS ETA SLOWER AND LIFTS LOW INTO IND WHILE
AVN LIFTS LOW INTO OH AND PA. THIS IS ASSOC WITH AVN DEAMPLIFING
500 LOW INTO JUST A WAVE...WHILE ETA MAINTAINS A LOW CENTER AT
500MB. MODELS ALSO CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS FCST...EXCEPT ETA WITH
HOLDING ONTO LOW IN MID LEVELS. THEREFORE WILL CONTINUE TO STICK
WITH ETA/AVN BLEND.

BIG QUESTIONS TONIGHT WILL BE AMOUNT OF SNOW IN NW AND SFC TEMPS
WITH RESULTING PCPN TYPE AND WHERE TO DRAW LINES. MODELS VERIFY WELL
WITH CURRENT POSITION OF FRONT...HOWEVER ETA AND AVN ARND TWO DEGREES
TOO WARM IN NORTHWESTERN PARTS OF CWA...WHICH WILL HAVE BIG IMPACT ON
PCPN TYPE. ALL INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS WILL BE BIG WINTER EVENT
THAT WILL LAST THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT AND POSSIBLE INTO FRIDAY. WITH
ALL MODELS AGREEING...AFD WILL FOCUS ON PCPN TYPE AND WHERE.

PCPN ALREADY CHANGING OVER TO FZRA...IN NW...AS COLDER AIR SLOWLY
SLIDES IN ON SFC. SFC OBS AND CALLS TO SHERIFF OFFICES INDICATE PCPN
IS TURNING TO LIGHT SNOW IN NORTHERN AREAS WITH MIX OF FZRA AND PL
SLIGHTLY FURTHER SOUTH. BASED ON THIS TREND AND MODEL FCST
SOUNDINGS...WILL MENTION MIX OF PCPN TODAY CHANGING TO SNOW...EARLY
IN NORTH AND TOWARD AFTERNOON JUST SOUTH OF IL RVR. THEN WILL
CONTINUE SNOWFALL OVER AREA INTO LATE TONIGHT...BEFORE BECOMING
MIXED AGAIN. ADJUSTING LOW LEVEL TEMPS COOLER AND LOOKING AT VERT
DISPLACEMENT AND AMOUNT OF QPF FCST BY MODELS...AS WELL AS PW VALUES
AND AREAS ALONG AND NW OF IL RVR COULD SEE SNOWFALL TOTALS OF UP TO
AROUND 8 INCHES OF SNOW WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS...ESPECIALLY NW
OF PIA IN GBG AREA. ALONG A BMI TO SPI LINE...PROFILES INDICATE RA
CHANGING TO MIX OF WINTERY PCPN...THEN ALL FZRA TONIGHT INTO THUR.
REMAINDER OF CWA FROM TAYLORVILLE TO DANVILLE AND SOUTHEAST WILL BE
ALL RAIN WITH EVEN CHANCE FOR THUNDER IN SOUTHEASTERN GROUPS TONIGHT
AND THURSDAY NIGHT.

BELIEVE TEMPS LITTLE COOLER THAN MODEL FCST SO WILL FOLLOW COOLER
FAN/MAV TEMPS THROUGHOUT.

COORD WITH LSX...DVN AND LOT THANKS.

...PRELIMINARY CCF NUMBERS FOR COORDINATION PURPOSES...

SPI 0R 036/031 035/030 030 77+++
PIA SY 032/028 031/028 028 77+++
DEC RR 037/034 036/032 032 77+++
CMI RR 038/035 037/033 033 77+++
MTO RR 042/037 040/035 035 77+++
LWV RR 048/045 050/038 038 77+++

.ILX...WINTER STORM WARNING...ZNS 027>031-036>038-040>043-047>051.

AUTEN

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 30, 6:00 AM CST, 4 hours before

ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-301300-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR CENTRAL ILLINOIS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
600 AM CST WED JAN 30 2002

...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR AREAS ALONG AND NORTHWEST OF INTERSTATE
55 FOR TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...

A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM WILL AFFECT CENTRAL ILLINOIS TODAY AND
CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. A FRONT LOCATED FROM SOUTHERN
INDIANA TO CENTRAL ARKANSAS WILL HAVE A SERIES OF LOW PRESSURE
AREAS MOVE NORTHEAST ALONG IT AND PRODUCE A WIDE VARIETY OF WINTER
WEATHER ACROSS CENTRAL ILLINOIS. AREAS ALONG AND NORTHWEST OF THE
ILLINOIS RIVER CAN EXPECT SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS RANGING FROM 4 TO 8
INCHES ACROSS THE AREA. THIS SNOW WILL CHANGE TO FREEZING RAIN
AFTER MIDNIGHT...PRODUCING ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF ONE QUARTER TO ONE
HALF INCH LATE TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY.

DRIVING WILL BECOME DANGEROUS WITH THE SNOWFALL AND FREEZING RAIN...
THEREFORE MOTORISTS ARE URGED TO USE EXTREME CAUTION WHILE OUT
TRAVELING TODAY AND TONIGHT. ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH YOUR
DESTINATION AND LEAVE PLENTY OF ROOM BETWEEN YOU AND THE CAR IN FRONT
OF YOU.

AUTEN

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 ice storm, 4 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Ice Storm, Tazewell

When: January 30, 10:00 AM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Tazewell forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.508, -89.513 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Woodford

When: January 30, 11:30 AM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Woodford forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.788, -89.211 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Knox

When: January 30, 12:00 PM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Knox forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.932, -90.213 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Fulton

When: January 30, 1:30 PM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Fulton forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.473, -90.207 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Schuyler

When: January 30, 1:30 PM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Schuyler forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.158, -90.615 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Mason

When: January 30, 2:00 PM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Mason forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 40.240, -89.917 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Stark

When: January 30, 3:00 PM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Stark forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.093, -89.797 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Peoria

When: January 30, 7:00 PM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: Peoria forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.788, -89.760 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, McLean

When: January 30, 9:30 PM CST to January 31, 2:00 PM CST
Where: McLean forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 40.491, -88.847 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Marshall

When: January 31, 2:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Marshall forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 41.033, -89.345 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Ice Storm: Freezing rain accumulating a quarter inch or more of ice, or less where it caused significant damage.
Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, January 2002

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: 5283380, 5283381, 5283373, 5283377, 5283379, 5283382, 5283376, 5283375, 5283378, 5283374.