A rare event occurred in northern portions of the Central Illinois county warning area. Thundersnow storms developed over eastern Iowa and moved rapidly east into Illinois.
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 episode as NWS ILX wrote it up.
A rare event occurred in northern portions of the Central Illinois county warning area. Thundersnow storms developed over eastern Iowa and moved rapidly east into Illinois. As the storms moved into the area, damaging winds, lightning, and near whiteout conditions were reported with the passage of the storms. After the storms weakened and moved out of central Illinois, strong gradient winds briefly developed and moved east across the county warning area. These winds created a rare phenomena...snow rollers. The snow rollers ranged in size from golfball size to over 30 inches long and a foot tall.
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 Feb 11, 2:35 PM CST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 235 PM CST TUE FEB 11 2003 STRONG COLD FRONT NOW ENTERING NORTHWESTERN IOWA WILL RAPIDLY SWEEP ACROSS ILLINOIS BEFORE MIDNIGHT...SUPPORTED BY 8MB PRESSURE RISES AND WIND GUSTS OVER 40MPH BEHIND THE FRONT. WE ALREADY HAVE HAD REPORTS OF VISIBILITIES BELOW 1/4 MILE IN BLOWING SNOW OVER OPEN AREAS...AND THESE CONDITIONS SHOULD JUST GET WORSE BEFORE THE GRADIENT RELAXES TOWARD MIDNIGHT. WILL ISSUE A BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY FOR SNOW COVERED AREAS TONIGHT. MOST OF THE HEAVIER SNOW WITH THE FRONT WILL STAY TO OUR NORTH...BUT LIGHT AMOUNTS WILL BE POSSIBLE AS FAR SOUTH AS I-72. ATTENTION THEN TURNS TO THE SYSTEM COMING OUT IN THE SOUTHERN STREAM THURSDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY. SOUNDING PROGS SUGGEST THE POSSIBILITY OF FREEZING RAIN AS THE PRECIPITATION STARTS LATE THURSDAY NIGHT... CHANGING TO A MIXTURE OF RAIN AND SNOW DURING THE DAY FRIDAY. LIGHTER PRECIPITATION OVER THE NORTHERN AREAS SHOULD BE MAINLY SNOW. MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE ETA AND GFS INVOLVE HOW FAR SOUTH THE SURFACE LOW WILL BE...AND HOW FAR NORTH THE PRECIPITATION WILL EXTEND. AT THIS TIME...WILL LEAN TOWARD THE FURTHER SOUTH SURFACE LOW POSITION OF THE ETA...AND THE FURTHER NORTH QPF OF THE GFS. MIXED PRECIPITATION COULD ALSO EXTEND INTO SATURDAY NIGHT. THE REST OF THE EXTENDED LOOKS DRY SO FAR. ..04.. .ILX...BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT ZONES 42>57..61>63.
ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-121200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 215 PM CST TUE FEB 11 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT WESTERLY WINDS OF BETWEEN 15 AND 25 MPH...WITH GUSTS OVER 30 MPH AT TIMES...WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS. WITH A FRESH SNOW COVER IN PLACE...BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL BECOME A PROBLEM IN MANY AREAS...ESPECIALLY ACROSS OPEN RURAL LOCATIONS. PERSONS PLANNING TRAVEL TONIGHT SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR RESTRICTED VISIBILITIES AND SCATTERED SLICK SPOTS ON AREA ROADS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER...A STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE OUT OF THE ROCKIES AND INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS STATES BY LATE THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING. THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO SPREAD A MIXTURE OF RAIN...FREEZING RAIN AND SNOW ACROSS PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. DUE TO THE UNCERTAINTY OF THIS DEVELOPING SYSTEM...IT IS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE WHERE THE RAIN/SNOW/FREEZING RAIN AREAS MAY SET UP. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS POTENTIAL WINTER STORM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. && THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WEATHER...HYDROLOGIC...AND CLIMATE INFORMATION...IS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET AT: HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/ILX PLEASE NOTE THAT THE WEB ADDRESS SHOULD BE ALL IN LOWER CASE BARNES
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:42 UTC.
5 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous light poles in Galesburg, mainly along US Routes 34 and 150 and on Interstate 74. One light pole fell onto a car breaking the windshield and denting the hood. The driver and passenger were not injured.
Several light poles were blown down in town.
Several trees and large power poles were blown down on the west and south sides of the city. No one was injured by the fallen trees or power poles.
Thunderstorm winds blew down power lines in Eureka, Roanoke, Minonk, and El Paso.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, February 2003
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: 5345695, 5345696, 5345697, 5345698, 5345699.