A cluster of thunderstorms became more linear and increased in intensity as it crossed southern Illinois from west to east. The storms produced isolated damaging winds over southwest Illinois, then the damage became more organized as the storms approached the Wabash River.
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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 PAH wrote it up.
A cluster of thunderstorms became more linear and increased in intensity as it crossed southern Illinois from west to east. The storms produced isolated damaging winds over southwest Illinois, then the damage became more organized as the storms approached the Wabash River.
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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 5, 2:00 AM CST, 7 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 300 AM CDT MON JUL 5 2004 .DISCUSSION... 06Z META PEGS UPSTREAM CONVECTION OVER KC MO AND DIVES IT ESE ACROSS PAH FA THIS AM. RADAR MOSAIC ALREADY SHOWS SOME DEVELOPMENT OVER CNTL MO...OUT AHEAD OF AFOREMENTIONED AREA...AND LOWER TROPOSPHERIC DATA REVEALS THETA-E RIDGE LAYING IN WAIT OVERTOP PAH FA. HAVE THEREFORE ADJUSTED POPS/WX TO ACCOUNT FOR BOTH AN ADVECTIVE AM AND DIURNALLY ENHANCED PM POP...BUT CHOSE NOT TO BE OVERLY DETAILED BY PASTING A SLIGHT CHANCE EVERYWHERE. AFTER THAT ITS A LULL...W/PCPN CHANCES DEPARTING NERN PTNS FA LATE TONIGHT-EARLY TOMORROW...THEN RETURNING...NW TO SE...TUE PM AS FRONTAL BOUNDARY APPROACHES. LATEST MODEL GUIDANCE SUGGESTS PEAK IN POPS TUE NIGHT W/FROPA OCCURRING BY MIDDAY WED. MODELS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENTLY PUSHING THE FRONT THRU...AND W/ETA AND GFS NOW STARTING TO COME A LTL MORE IN LINE...HAVE PRETTY MUCH BOUGHT INTO FROPA OVER ALL OF FA SAVE FAR SE BY 18Z WED...DEPARTING SERN MOST PTNS BY END OF DAY WED. AFTER THAT THE FORECAST IS LITTLE CHANGED W/THE MED TO LONG RANGE GFS/MRF VERY CONSISTENT W/ITS PREVIOUS COUPLE RUNS. HAVE THEREFORE ONLY TWEEKED SLIGHTLY PER LATEST DATA. CONTINUE TO FAVOR A META/ETA NEAR TERM SOLUTION...BUT GFS IS VERY CLOSE...AS IS MOST MOS NOS. THEREFORE TEMP FORECAST REFLECTS BIAS TOWARD ETA MOS EARLY...BLENDING INTO GFS BIASED NOS BY MID TO LONG RANGE...WHICH HAS BEEN OUR PERSISTENCE STRATEGY FOR ABOUT A WEEK NOW. NEWEST DATA SUPPORTS CONTINUATION OF HEADLINING HIS AROUND 100 THIS PM. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE. MO...NONE. IL...NONE. IN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 349 AM CDT MON JUL 5 2004 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-061000- ALEXANDER IL-BALLARD KY-BOLLINGER MO-BUTLER MO-CALDWELL KY- CALLOWAY KY-CAPE GIRARDEAU MO-CARLISLE KY-CARTER MO-CHRISTIAN KY- CRITTENDEN KY-DAVIESS KY-EDWARDS IL-FRANKLIN IL-FULTON KY- GALLATIN IL-GIBSON IN-GRAVES KY-HAMILTON IL-HARDIN IL-HENDERSON KY- HICKMAN KY-HOPKINS KY-JACKSON IL-JEFFERSON IL-JOHNSON IL- LIVINGSTON KY-LYON KY-MARSHALL KY-MASSAC IL-MCCRACKEN KY-MCLEAN KY- MISSISSIPPI MO-MUHLENBERG KY-NEW MADRID MO-PERRY MO-PERRY IL-PIKE IN- POPE IL-POSEY IN-PULASKI IL-RIPLEY MO-SALINE IL-SCOTT MO-SPENCER IN- STODDARD MO-TODD KY-TRIGG KY-UNION KY-UNION IL-VANDERBURGH IN- WABASH IL-WARRICK IN-WAYNE MO-WAYNE IL-WEBSTER KY-WHITE IL- WILLIAMSON IL- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...SIKESTON...POPLAR BLUFF...PERRYVILLE... CAPE GIRARDEAU...PADUCAH...OWENSBORO...MURRAY...MAYFIELD... MADISONVILLE...HOPKINSVILLE...HENDERSON...EVANSVILLE...HERRIN... HARRISBURG...CARMI...CARBONDALE AND CAIRO 349 AM CDT MON JUL 5 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...AND WESTERN KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE QUAD STATE TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE PRIMARY WEATHER THREATS FROM SEVERE STORMS...IF THEY OCCUR...WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THE PRIMARY THREATS FROM SEVERE STORMS...IF THEY OCCUR...WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN. THERE WILL ALSO BE A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME FOR SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS SHOULD MAINTAIN ALERT STATUS IN CASE THEIR ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED EARLY THIS WEEK.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 911 AM CDT MON JUL 5 2004 ILZ075>078-080>091-INZ081-082-085>087-KYZ014-018-MOZ076-086-087- 051515- BOLLINGER MO-CAPE GIRARDEAU MO-EDWARDS IL-FRANKLIN IL-GALLATIN IL- GIBSON IN-HAMILTON IL-HARDIN IL-HENDERSON KY-JACKSON IL-JEFFERSON IL- JOHNSON IL-PERRY IL-PERRY MO-PIKE IN-POPE IL-POSEY IN-SALINE IL- UNION IL-UNION KY-VANDERBURGH IN-WABASH IL-WARRICK IN-WAYNE IL- WHITE IL-WILLIAMSON IL- 911 AM CDT (911 AM EST) MON JUL 5 2004 ...STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS APPROACHING SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS... AT 910 AM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING ACROSS SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. THE LEADING EDGE OF THE STORMS SHOULD BE INTO PERRY COUNTY ILLINOIS AROUND 945 AM AND JEFFERSON COUNTY ILLINOIS BY 1000 AM. THESE STORMS HAVE HAD A HISTORY OF PRODUCING WIND DAMAGE...WHICH INCLUDES TREES DOWN. THROUGH THE MID AND LATE MORNING HOURS...THE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THEIR EAST TO SOUTHEAST TRACK ACROSS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS... AND SHOULD EVENTUALLY REACH SOUTHWEST INDIANA. STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS MAY ACCOMPANY THE STORMS AS THEY MOVE ACROSS THE REGION. BE READY TO TAKE ACTION. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER SITUATION...AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS. NOLES
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous tree limbs and a few whole trees were blown down across the county. Tree damage was reported in Opdyke, Belle Rive, Nason, and Mount Vernon. In Mount Vernon, some large limbs were blown down, and a 30-foot tree was down in a backyard. Japanese maple trees were flattened in Belle Rive.
More than two dozen trees were blown down, mainly on the west side of the city. Several city streets were blocked by fallen trees and limbs. Cars and house roofs were damaged by falling trees. Large limbs were down in the city park. Falling tree limbs collapsed a carport on the west side of the city. A shed was blown onto a city police vehicle. A tent housing fireworks for sale collapsed in the wind.
A 119-year-old tree fell on a house in Marion. A large tree limb 6 to 8 inches in diameter fell on a house in Energy. A 4-inch limb fell on a house in Herrin.
Trees and power lines were blown down along Route 142.
Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across White County, specifically in Carmi and Grayville. At Grayville, a spotter measured a wind gust to 74 MPH (64 knots). Trees were blown down on at least 3 houses in Grayville. Power was out in Grayville for about 12 hours.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, July 2004
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: 5411521, 5411517, 5411520, 5411518, 5411519.