At around 10:00 PM, a large area of widpsread thunderstorms developed over northeastern Illinois and built into northwestern Indiana ahead of a cold front. This area of thunderstorms were slow-moving with repeated development over areas.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 LOT wrote it up.
At around 10:00 PM, a large area of widpsread thunderstorms developed over northeastern Illinois and built into northwestern Indiana ahead of a cold front. This area of thunderstorms were slow-moving with repeated development over areas. Large amounts of rain fell over the Chicago metro and rural areas of Benton and Newton counties. Widespread flooding caused by up to 4 inches of rainfall was observed throughout these counties. By 4:00 AM, the front had pushed completely through northwestern Indiana, ending rainfall over the region.
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 Chicago, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 11, 5:58 PM CST, 7 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 658 PM CDT FRI JUN 11 2004 .DISCUSSION... FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS...WILL LET THE FLOOD WARNING FOR BENTON CNTY EXPIRE AT 3 PM CDT AS NO FURTHER FLOODING IS BEING REPORTED. A PLETHORA OF SFC AND UPPER LEVEL FEATURES BEGINNING TO SPAWN DEEP MOIST CONVECTION IN NRN IA, WILL EVOLVE INTO A MCS LATER TONIGHT AND LIKELY MOVE INTO THE NRN PORTIONS OF THE CWA. CONCURRENTLY...THE QUASI-STATIONARY DRAPED GENERALLY NW TO SE ACROSS THE CWA MAY SERVE AS A CONDUIT FOR SCATTERED TSRA DEVELOPMENT LATER TODAY AND THIS EVENING AHEAD OF THE MCS. DUE TO THE ANTICIPATED HEAVY RAINFALL ON TOP OF THE ALREADY SATURATED GROUND FROM LAST NIGHTS ACTIVITY...HAVE HOISTED A FLOOD WATCH FOR THE SRN PORTION OF THE CWA VALID TONIGHT THRU NOON SAT. NEXT ISSUE IS TEMPS FOR SAT. THE MODELS VARY IN FRONTAL PLACEMENT, NORTH OF THE CWA AND HENCE MAINTAIN RATHER WARM SFC TEMPS. FOLLOWED CLOSER TO THE MAV AS WE FEEL TONIGHTS MCS SHOULD KEEP THE BNDRY IN THE AREA THEREBY MAINTAINING AN AMPLE BNDRY LAYER CU FIELD HOLDING TEMPS DOWN A BIT. OTHERWISE THE INHERITED FCST APPEARS INTACT. ONE ITEM TO NOTE IS THE OPERATIONAL GFS IS SIGNALING THE RETURN OF A WET PATTERN WED THRU FRI OF NEXT WEEK. DECIDED TO WAIT A DAY BEFORE JUMPING ON A WET EXTENDED FCST. 05 && .AVIATION DISCUSSION FOR 00Z TAFS... AT 6 PM STRONG WARM FRONT SITTING TO S OF TAF SITES WITH SECONDARY WARM FRONT/LAKE BREEZE FROM S OF GYY S DPA-RFD. A FEW TS FIRING ON FRONT VCNTY RFD. TO NOT EXPECT MAIN FRONT TO PUSH N OF TAF SITES THRU THIS PERIOD. EXPECT TS TO SLOWLY BUILD ESE THRU NIGHT ALONG FRONT, ESPECIALLY AS IA TS COMPLEX MOVES ESE. AT THIS TIME EXPECT TS TO CONTINUE VCNTY RFD BUT HOLD OFF IN CHI TAFS TIL ABOUT 05Z. WILL BE CLOSE ON THIS. MAJOR OTHER PROBLEM IS THE 2ND FRONT. IFR CIGS LAST FEW HOUR FROM PWK N. EXPECT THIS TO SLOWLY SINK S THRU EVE AND GET INTO ORD AREA. EVENTUALLY WILL GO S OF THERE BUT NOT TIL TS COME INTO PICTURE. MAIN TS EXPECTED E OF TAFS BY 12Z WITH GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT THEN FROM IFR LEVELS THRU MORNING. AF && .LOT...WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IL...FLOOD WATCH THRU NOON SATURDAY FOR IROQUOIS...FORD... LIVINGSTON AND KANKAKEE COUNTIES. .IN...FLOOD WATCH THRU NOON SATURDAY FOR BENTON...NEWTON AND JASPER COUNTIES. . LK MI...NONE. && IMPORTANT NOTICE...EFFECTIVE JUNE 15...THE AWIPS IDENTIFIER FOR THIS PRODUCT WILL CHANGE FROM CHIAFDCHI TO CHIAFDLOT. THE WMO HEADER FXUS63 KLOT WILL NOT CHANGE.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 500 PM CDT FRI JUN 11 2004 ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>022-023-032-033-039-INZ001-002-010-011-019 -121100- WINNEBAGO-BOONE-MCHENRY-LAKE IL-OGLE-LEE-DE KALB-KANE-DU PAGE-COOK- LA SALLE-KENDALL-GRUNDY-WILL-KANKAKEE-LIVINGSTON-IROQUOIS-FORD- LAKE IN-PORTER-NEWTON-JASPER-BENTON- 500 PM CDT FRI JUN 11 2004 THIS PORTION OF THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST ILLINOIS...AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. .DAY ONE... TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT. THE PRIMARY SEVERE THREAT IS DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. IT IS MORE LIKELY THAT THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS. ANY ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL WILL FURTHER AGGREVATE ANY FLOOD SITUATION. NEARLY SATURATED SOILS AND BANKFULL STREAMS ACROSS THE AREA MAY QUICKLY FLOOD WITH RENEWED HEAVY RAINFALL. STORMS DEVELOPING OVER NORTHERN IOWA THIS EVENING ARE EXPECTED TO EVOLVE INTO A LARGE THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX LATE TONIGHT AND PERSIST OVER THE REGION...ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST SHORTLY AFTER SUNRISE SATURDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY...SUNDAY...SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY NIGHT. THE STORMS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY COULD ALSO BE SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS MAY BE NEEDED LATER TONIGHT. && COMPLETE FORECAST INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE NWS CHICAGO WEBPAGE: WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/LOT (LOWER CASE) LMZ740>746-766-121100- WINTHROP HARBOR IL TO NEW BUFFALO MI- LAKE MICHIGAN- 500 PM CDT FRI JUN 11 2004 THIS PORTION OF THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE ILLINOIS AND INDIANA WATERS OF LAKE MICHIGAN. .DAY ONE... TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY ACROSS SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN LATER TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE SATURDAY...SUNDAY...SUNDAY NIGHT...AND MONDAY NIGHT. && COMPLETE FORECAST INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON THE NWS CHICAGO WEBPAGE: WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/LOT (LOWER CASE) MERZLOCK
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
126 AM CDT SAT JUN 12 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0105 AM FLOOD JOLIET 41.53N 88.12W
06/12/2004 WILL IL AMATEUR RADIO
DUPAGE RIVER OVER BANKS AT RT. 52 WEST OF ESSINGTON. GAGE
READING 4.5 FEET.
0116 AM FLASH FLOOD JOLIET 41.53N 88.12W
06/12/2004 WILL IL AMATEUR RADIO
DITCHES FULL AT RT. 30 AND CATON FARM RD. WATER OVER ROAD
AT HENNEPIN RD. AND RT. 30.
0104 AM FLASH FLOOD JOLIET 41.53N 88.12W
06/12/2004 WILL IL AMATEUR RADIO
18 INCHES OF WATER OVER ROADWAY AT RIVER RD. AND RT. 52
AND BLAT RD. DEBRIS IN ROADWAY.
&&
ASKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
133 AM CDT SAT JUN 12 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0125 AM FLASH FLOOD NAPERVILLE 41.76N 88.15W
06/12/2004 DUPAGE IL NWS EMPLOYEE
STREET FLOODING AT RIVER RD. AND WILSHIRE BLVD.
0130 AM FLASH FLOOD AURORA 41.77N 88.29W
06/12/2004 KANE IL EMERGENCY MNGR
1 LANE CLOSED DUE TO FLOODING AT SULLIVAN RD. AND RT. 31.
2.15 INCHES TOTAL RAINFALL.
&&
ASKPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
200 AM CDT SAT JUN 12 2004
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0144 AM ROSELAWN, INDIANA IN FLOODING
05/12/04 JASPER
CREEK/STREAM FLOOD. 2.27 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN 22 MINUTES FLASH
FLOOD CONTINUING EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL OCCURING AT THIS
TIME REPORTED BY NWS TRAINED SPOTTER.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
226 AM CDT SAT JUN 12 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0215 AM FLASH FLOOD ROCKFORD 42.27N 89.06W
06/12/2004 WINNEBAGO IL TRAINED SPOTTER
WATER FLOWING ACROSS ROADWAYS IN THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE
CITY.
&&
ASKCHIWRKLSR 0000
TTAA00 KLOT DDHHMM
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
240 AM CDT SAT JUN 12 2004
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0155 AM DEMOTTE IN FLOODING
05/12/04 JASPER
WIDESPREAD FLOODING. FLASH FLOOD NEARLY 3 FELL FROM 1:30-1:55
AM REPORTED BY LAW/PUBLIC OFFICIAL.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL
255 AM CDT SAT JUN 12 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0254 AM FLASH FLOOD SOMONAUK 41.63N 88.68W
06/12/2004 LA SALLE IL EMERGENCY MNGR
0254 AM FLOOD SOMONAUK 41.63N 88.68W
06/12/2004 LA SALLE IL EMERGENCY MNGR
&&
RLBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 flash flood, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Widespread flooding was reported. Three inches of rain fell in half an hour.
Widespread reports of flooding throughout the county.
Widespread reports of flooding throughout the county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Indiana in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Indiana, 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: 5407278, 5407276, 5407275, 5407277.