Hail, Henry
- When
- May 14, 12:30 PM CST
- Where
- Henry County, Geneseo
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 41.450, -90.150
Flash Flood and Hail in Illinois, May 14, 2003
An upper level disturbance induced a surface low pressure on a boundary across Eastern Iowa that moved into Northwest Illinois and far Northeast Missouri. Subsequent thunderstorms that developed were prolific hail producers due to extremely cold air aloft.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $350,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 8
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 DVN wrote it up.
An upper level disturbance induced a surface low pressure on a boundary across Eastern Iowa that moved into Northwest Illinois and far Northeast Missouri. Subsequent thunderstorms that developed were prolific hail producers due to extremely cold air aloft. Additional outflow boundaries produced by the initial thunderstorms created new storms and brief funnel clouds that fortunately never touched down. Pea sized hail (0.25 inch) continued continuously for 20 minutes in Princeton, Illinois and covered the ground.
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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 14, 3:33 AM CST, 8 hours 57 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 14, 3:33 AM CST, 8 hours 57 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 433 AM CDT WED MAY 14 2003 BAD MOISTURE DATA FROM 00Z DVN SOUNDING AFFECTING SUBSEQUENT MODEL RUNS. IN NEAR TERM RUC HAS BEST HANDLE ON SITUATION IN REGARDS TO PRECIP AND OVERALL FORCING. PRECIP CURRENTLY OVER CWFA SHOULD MOVE OFF AS FORCING FROM VORT MAX MOVES EAST DURING THE MORNING. COLD POOL ALOFT AND STRONGER VORT MAX THIS AFTERNOON TO ALLOW TSRA TO DEVELOP. STEEP LAPSE RATES AND FAVORABLE WBZ HEIGHT SUGGEST HAIL THREAT FROM TSRA THAT DEVELOP IN THE AFTERNOON/EVENING HOURS. SURFACE CONVERGENCE TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY SHOULD KEEP SHRA GOING. LOW LEVEL EASTERLY FLOW TO KEEP LOW SC ACROSS CWFA THROUGH FRIDAY BEFORE NEXT SYSTEM ARRIVES. BEST CHANCES FOR ANY PRECIP ON THIS SYSTEM WOULD BE IN THE SOUTH THIRD IF IT OCCURS. FORECAST SOUNDINGS SUGGEST THAT ENOUGH DRY AIR MAY BE PRESENT IN LOW LEVELS TO PRECLUDE PRECIP DEVELOPMENT. FOR NOW WILL GO WITH MORE CLOUDS. POTENTIAL FOR LARGE BUSTS THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH EASTERLY FLOW. BELIEVE EASTERLY FLOW TO BE SUFFICIENT ENOUGH TO AFFECT THE NORTHEAST QUARTER OF CWFA TODAY AND MOST OF CWFA ON THURSDAY/FRIDAY. DVN... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. SF
Hazardous weather outlook, May 14, 4:00 AM CST, 8 hours 30 minutes before
IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-151000- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 500 AM CDT WED MAY 14 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN IOWA... NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE EAST OF THE AREA THIS MORNING TAKING THE RAIN AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM THREAT WITH IT. THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING A STRONGER UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA. COLD AIR ALOFT WILL ALLOW THUNDERSTORMS TO REDEVELOP BRINGING A THREAT OF HAIL. MOST OF THE HAIL SHOULD ONE HALF INCH OR LESS...HOWEVER SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS MAY PRODUCE HAIL UP TO AN INCH. AFTER SUNSET THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL DISSIPATE WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH THE WEEKEND. HOWEVER ANY REPORTS OF HAIL THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WILL BE APPRECIATED. && MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING URL: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dvn SF
The radar
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:29 UTC.
Event by event
4 hail, 2 funnel cloud, 1 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
Hail, Henry
- When
- May 14, 12:36 PM CST
- Where
- Henry County, 5 mi N of Orion
- Measured
- 0.88 in hail
- Reported by
- TRAINED SPOTTER
- Coordinates
- 41.417, -90.383
Location 3.0 E of Coal Valley
Funnel Cloud, Henry
- When
- May 14, 1:30 PM CST
- Where
- Henry County, 4 mi N of Kewanee
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 41.353, -90.131 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood, Bureau
- When
- May 14, 1:45 PM CST to 4:45 PM CST
- Where
- Bureau County, Princeton
- Measured
- 4
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 41.404, -89.529 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Water 12 inches deep on roads
Heavy Rain, Bureau
- When
- May 14, 2:00 PM CST
- Where
- Bureau County, Princeton
- Measured
- 4
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- EMERGENCY MANAGER
- Coordinates
- 41.404, -89.529 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Hail, Mercer
- When
- May 14, 2:05 PM CST to 2:10 PM CST
- Where
- Mercer County, Sherrard
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Property damage
- $100,000
- Reported by
- BROADCAST MEDIA
- Coordinates
- 41.317, -90.500
Covered the ground
Hail, Henderson
- When
- May 14, 5:26 PM CST
- Where
- Henderson County, 1 mi S of Carman
- Measured
- 1 in hail
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.733, -91.067
Funnel Cloud, Henderson
- When
- May 14, 5:28 PM CST to 5:30 PM CST
- Where
- Henderson County, 2 mi N of Lomax
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.818, -90.925 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
- Funnel Cloud
- A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
- Heavy Rain
- Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado in Texas, May 14, 2003
- Tornado in Oklahoma, May 14, 2003
- Flash Flood and Hail in Iowa, May 14, 2003
- Hail in Texas, May 14, 2003
- Tornado and Hail in Indiana, May 14, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Iowa, May 14, 2003
- Damaging Winds in Missouri, May 14, 2003
- Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, May 14, 2003
- Damaging Wind and Strong Wind in California, May 14, 2003
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Louisiana, May 14 to 15, 2003
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, May 14, 2003
- Lightning Strike in Alabama, May 14, 2003
More
Every storm in Illinois in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2003
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: 5359301, 5359302, 5359303, 5359305, 5359304, 5359306, 5359307, 5359308.