Numerous thunderstorms developed over southern Illinois during the late afternoon, producing lots of hail from dime to quarter size. A few storms produced even larger hail around the size of golf balls.
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 episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.
Numerous thunderstorms developed over southern Illinois during the late afternoon, producing lots of hail from dime to quarter size. A few storms produced even larger hail around the size of golf balls. The severe storms were most concentrated across Saline and Gallatin Counties, where storms repeatedly moved from west to east across the same areas. This resulted in some flash flooding. A storm that moved east across Saline and Gallatin Counties displayed rotational characteristics, including a long-lived wall cloud and a brief funnel cloud.
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 Jun 1, 1:45 PM CST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 245 PM CDT TUE JUN 1 2004 .DISCUSSION... NOT MUCH CHANGE EXHIBITED IN LATEST MODEL RUNS...ALTHOUGH THERE IS SOME MINOR DISAGREEMENT AMONGST THE MODELS ON OUR NEXT PCPN CHANCE. THE GFS IS MOST AGGRESSIVE...BRINGING IT IN AS EARLY AS LATE TUE PM WITH A MORE VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE EJECTION. ETA/NGM ARE MUCH CLOSER/SIMILAR AND AS SUCH SEEM TO HAVE THE BETTER GRASP ON THE SCENARIO. ANY WAY YOU CUT IT WE ARE TALKING A SMALL CHC PCPN TUE NIGHT-WED...AS THE MID-UPPER TROP CURVE COOLS A LTL AND THE LOWER TROP CURVE WARMS A LTL...SUFFICIENTLY ENOUGH FOR INCOMING FRONT/BOUNDARY TO POSSIBLY TAP A TSM OR TWO. AFTER THAT ITS DRY WX INTO THE WEEKEND...THEN THE NEXT CHC OF PCPN WITH THE APPROACH OF THE NEXT SYSTEM DAYS 6-7. WE STAYED IN THE BALLPARK OF MOS TEMPS AND GENERALLY ITS POPS THROUGHOUT THE PACKAGE...WITH SUBTLE LEANS IN THE NEAR TERM BASED ON PREFERRED MODEL CHOICES OF ETA/NGM. && .PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KY...NONE MO...NONE IL...NONE IN...NONE &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 232 PM CDT TUE JUN 1 2004 ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-100- 107>112-114-021000- 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 232 PM CDT TUE JUN 1 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...SOUTHWEST INDIANA...AND WESTERN KENTUCKY. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE OUTLOOK AREA THROUGH 10 PM. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON OVER SOUTHEAST MISSOURI...SOUTHERN ILLINOIS...AND SOUTHWEST INDIANA. THESE STORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS WESTERN KENTUCKY DURING THE EVENING. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THE STORMS. MINOR RIVER FLOODING IS OCCURRING ON PARTS OF THE MISSISSIPPI...OHIO...GREEN...AND BIG MUDDY RIVERS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER THE WEEKEND. THOUGH NO ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME...ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT. FLOODING OF SOME RIVERS WILL CONTINUE. THE FLOOD CREST ON THE OHIO RIVER WILL REACH SOUTHWEST INDIANA THIS WEEKEND...FINALLY REACHING CAIRO EARLY NEXT WEEK. FLOODING MAY REACH MODERATE LEVELS UPRIVER FROM THE CONFLUENCE WITH THE TENNESSEE RIVER. FLOODING ON THE MISSISSIPPI...GREEN...AND BIG MUDDY RIVERS IS MINOR AND WILL BEGIN TO RECEDE BY THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION HAS BEEN REQUESTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. YORK
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:44 UTC.
14 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm intensified to severe levels over northern Johnson County, producing hail up to quarter size over northeast parts of the county.
The severe thunderstorm moved northeast from Johnson County, producing golf-ball size hail just south of Harrisburg.
Tree limbs and power lines were blown down.
Hail slightly smaller than tennis balls was reported on the Williamson/Franklin County line.
Dime to nickel size hail was reported across northern and eastern Saline County.
Penny to nickel size hail fell on the northwest side of Herrin.
Quarter-size hail fell at the intersection of Highways 1 and 13, just east of Equality.
Nickel to quarter-size hail was reported from Shawneetown up toward Ridgway.
Numerous reports of nickel to quarter-size hail were received from Harrisburg to Raleigh, including the Harrisburg Airport.
Quarter-size hail fell across northern Saline County, including on Route 34 near Galatia.
Quarter-size hail covered the ground 1 to 3 miles south of Shawneetown.
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, June 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: 5408211, 5408212, 5408214, 5408213, 5408215, 5408308, 5408216, 5408217, 5408218, 5408309, 5408302, 5408303, 5408304, 5408307, 5408305, 5408306.