Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Illinois, June 16 to 17, 2004

Name: Flash Flooding and Damaging Wind in Illinois, June 16 to 17, 2004
Start: 2004-06-16T14:14
End: 2004-06-17T03:00
Location: Illinois

June 16 to 17, 2004 · NWS DVN · 16 events in 2 counties and zones

Scattered thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front moving east through Iowa. By the evening, a surface low had developed along the cold front as it moved into Eastern Iowa.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 15 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: $71,000
Crop damage: $19,000
Events: 16

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.

Scattered thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front moving east through Iowa. By the evening, a surface low had developed along the cold front as it moved into Eastern Iowa. This enhanced the overall lift in a near tropical atmosphere and produced copious amounts of rain in a very short time period. This resulted in flash flooding across parts of Northeast Iowa and Northwest Illinois due to the hilly terrain.

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 Jun 16, 2:10 PM CST, 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 16, 2:10 PM CST, 4 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
310 PM CDT WED JUNE 16 2004

.SYNOPSIS...
WARM AND MUGGY AIRMASS IN PLACE OVER THE CWA TODAY...WITH LOW
PRESSURE MOVING EAST THROUGH WESTERN IOWA.  THIS IS CAUSING INTENSE
CONVECTION OVER CENTRAL IOWA...MOVING EAST. OTHER MORE SCATTERED
STORMS ARE DEVELOPING IN EASTERN IOWA AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI.  DUE
TO INSTABILITY...SOME SEVERE SEEMS POSSIBLE...BUT MAIN THREAT IS
FLOODING. FLOODING HAS ALREADY OCCURRED THIS MORNING IN BUCHANAN CO
IOWA...AND NEW CONVECTION HAS PROMPTED ANOTHER FLASH FLOOD WARNING
FOR THIS CO IN THE LAST HOUR.

.SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT AND THURSDAY)
SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE POSSIBLE EARLY THIS EVENING...WITH HEAVY RAIN
LINGERING INTO THE EVENING. THE GREATEST THREAT IS OVER NORTHEAST
IOWA...WHERE 1 TO 2 INCHES IS LIKELY...WITH LOCALIZED HEAVIER
AMOUNTS.  LOCAL AMOUNTS WILL BE HIGH IN ISOLATED AREA OVER THE WHOLE
CWA...BUT WIDESPREAD HEAVY AMOUNTS ARE LESS LIKELY.  MORE RAIN IS
EXPECTED THURSDAY AS LOW PRESSURE LINGERS OVER THE AREA.  WILL
EXTEND THE FFA TIL NOON THURSDAY.  DEPENDING ON CONVECTIVE
TRENDS...THIS WATCH MAY NEED TO BE EXPANDED SOUTHWARD.
...ERVIN...

&&

.LONG TERM...(THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY)...
COMPLICATED FORECAST AS NONLINEAR PROCESSES WILL BE DOMINATING.
SHOULD SEE SOME LINGERING SHRA/TSRA THURSDAY EVENING AS INVERTED
TROF SLIDES THROUGH THE CWFA. ALL MODELS POINTING TO AN MCS
DEVELOPING IN THE PLAINS THURSDAY EVENING. QUESTION IS WHERE WILL IT
EVENTUALLY GO. INDICATIONS BY MODELS ARE THAT IT WILL MOVE NEARLY
EAST AND AFFECT PART OF THE CWFA IN ITS DECAYING STAGE ON FRIDAY.
AFTER THAT...MODELS HAVE DONE CONSIDERABLE FLIP FLOPPING ON WHAT
WILL HAPPEN. FOR NOW HAVE OPTED TO MAKE VERY LITTLE CHANGES TO THE
FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY TIME PERIOD. WILL LIKELY SEE PERIODS
OF DRY WEATHER WITH SUNDAY THE BEST BET.    ...08...

&&

.DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IA...FLOOD WATCH NORTH OF CEDAR RAPIDS TO MAQUOKETA TIL NOON THU.
IL...FLOOD WATCH NORTH OF MAQUOKETA TO MT CARROL TIL NOON THU.
MO...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 16, 4:24 AM CST, 9 hours 50 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
524 AM CDT WED JUN 16 2004

IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007-
009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-171100-
BENTON IA-BUCHANAN IA-BUREAU IL-CARROLL IL-CEDAR IA-CLARK MO-
CLINTON IA-DELAWARE IA-DES MOINES IA-DUBUQUE IA-HANCOCK IL-
HENDERSON IL-HENRY IA-HENRY IL-IOWA IA-JACKSON IA-JEFFERSON IA-
JO DAVIESS IL-JOHNSON IA-JONES IA-KEOKUK IA-LEE IA-LINN IA-LOUISA IA-
MCDONOUGH IL-MERCER IL-MUSCATINE IA-PUTNAM IL-ROCK ISLAND IL-
SCOTLAND MO-SCOTT IA-STEPHENSON IL-VAN BUREN IA-WARREN IL-
WASHINGTON IA-WHITESIDE IL-
524 AM CDT WED JUN 16 2004

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST IOWA...
EAST CENTRAL IOWA...SOUTHEAST IOWA...NORTHWEST ILLINOIS...NORTH
CENTRAL ILLINOIS...WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE OUTLOOK
AREA NORTHWEST OF A LINE FROM FREEPORT THROUGH THE QUAD CITIES...
MOUNT PLEASANT...TO MEMPHIS MISSOURI. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL
CONTINUE ACROSS EASTERN IOWA NORTH OF HIGHWAY 30 UNTIL MID MORNING.
THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WITH
RAIN AMOUNTS AS HIGH ONE INCH IN LESS THAN AN HOUR.

LATER THIS AFTERNOON...THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE OUTLOOK
AREA. THERE WILL BE A SMALL THREAT OF DAMAGING WIND AND LARGE HAIL
WITH STORMS...ESPECIALLY OVER EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST IOWA. A
BRIEF WEAK TORNADO IS ALSO POSSIBLE. ALL THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS ACROSS THE
ENTIRE AREA.

TONIGHT...WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER
THE AREA. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE HEAVY RAIN WITH LOCAL RAINFALL
AMOUNTS AS HIGH AS 2 TO 3 INCHES. THIS MAY LEAD TO MINOR FLASH
FLOODING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THURSDAY.
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND MINOR FLOODING WILL BE POSSIBLE.
ANOTHER ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED FRIDAY NIGHT INTO
SATURDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY
EVENING.

DLS

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 16, 11:19 AM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1219 PM CDT WED JUN 16 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0602 AM     FLASH FLOOD      4 E FAIRBANK            42.64N 91.97W
06/16/2004                   BUCHANAN           IA   PUBLIC

            HIGHWAY 281 CLOSED NEAR INTERSECTION OF COUNTY ROAD W13.

0545 AM     FLASH FLOOD      1 N HAZLETON            42.63N 91.91W
06/16/2004                   BUCHANAN           IA   EMERGENCY MNGR

            HIGHWAY 281 CLOSED JUST WEST OF HIGHWAY 150 INTERSECTION.
            WATER OVER ROAD FOR 30 MINUTES.

&&

BLACK

Local storm report, Jun 16, 1:20 PM CST, 54 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
220 PM CDT WED JUN 16 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0205 PM     HAIL             INDEPENDENCE            42.47N 91.89W
06/16/2004  0.25 INCH        BUCHANAN           IA   EMERGENCY MNGR

&&

14

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:48 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 heavy rain, 6 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Rain, Jo Daviess

When: June 16, 2:14 PM CST to 4:14 PM CST
Where: Jo Daviess County, Stockton
Measured: 3.31
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 42.366, -90.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

In the past 2 hours.

Flash Flood, Jo Daviess

When: June 16, 2:30 PM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where: Jo Daviess County, 1 mi W of Stockton
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $4,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.366, -90.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

U.S. 20 impassable

Heavy Rain, Jo Daviess

When: June 16, 2:30 PM CST
Where: Jo Daviess County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.366, -90.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water ponding on many roads in the eastern half of the county

Heavy Rain, Stephenson

When: June 16, 3:40 PM CST to 4:40 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, Cedarville
Measured: 2
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

In past hour; culverts full

Heavy Rain, Jo Daviess

When: June 16, 3:50 PM CST
Where: Jo Daviess County, Warren
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.366, -90.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water 5 inches deep on Highway 78; U.S. 20 east of Stockton 1-2 inches of water on it.

Thunderstorm Wind, Stephenson

When: June 16, 3:51 PM CST to 3:55 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, Cedarville
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.367, -89.633

Trees down at intersection of Charoaise Rd and Red Oad Rd

Heavy Rain, Stephenson

When: June 16, 4:00 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, 3 mi E of Lena
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water ponding on road

Flash Flood, Stephenson

When: June 16, 4:00 PM CST to 6:30 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, 3 mi W of Cedarville
Property damage: $20,000
Crop damage: $3,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Culvert washed out on Scioto Mills Rd between Beaver and Cedarville Rds.

Heavy Rain, Stephenson

When: June 16, 4:28 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, Cedarville
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water ponding in low lying areas

Heavy Rain, Stephenson

When: June 16, 6:05 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, 3 mi E of Lena
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water ponding on Unity Rd and intersection of Range and Rink Rds

Heavy Rain, Stephenson

When: June 16, 6:05 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, 4 mi SW of Lena
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water ponding on Sunnyside Rd

Flash Flood, Stephenson

When: June 16, 6:20 PM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, 3 mi NE of Lena
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $3,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Waddams Creek out of banks; Jct of Unity and Louisa Rds closed due to high water

Flash Flood, Stephenson

When: June 16, 6:20 PM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Stephenson County, 4 mi SW of Lena
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $3,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Yellow Creek out of banks; Sunnyside Rd closed due to high water.

Heavy Rain, Jo Daviess

When: June 16, 6:28 PM CST to 7:58 PM CST
Where: Jo Daviess County, Galena
Measured: 1.5
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.366, -90.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

In 90 minutes; nuisance flooded occurring at 1906 CST

Flash Flood, Jo Daviess

When: June 16, 7:10 PM CST to June 17, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Jo Daviess County, Galena
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $3,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.366, -90.212 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Numerous roads under water with depths ranging from 6 inches to 3 feet; Known roads closed include Field Street, Stagecoach Trail Rd, and intersection of Spring and U.S. 20

Flash Flood, Stephenson

When: June 16, 7:30 PM CST to June 17, 3:00 AM CST
Where: Stephenson County, 4 mi ESE of Lena
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $3,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 42.352, -89.662 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Wagner Rd closed due to high water.

What these are

Heavy Rain: Rainfall totals unusual for the place and season that did not produce a flood.
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.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, June 2004

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: 5418394, 5418395, 5418396, 5418450, 5418397, 5418398, 5418451, 5418453, 5418452, 5418454, 5418455, 5418456, 5418457, 5418458, 5418459, 5418460.