Thunderstorms fired along and ahead of a cold front passing through central Illinois. Several of the storms produced severe wind gusts.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 ILX wrote it up.
Thunderstorms fired along and ahead of a cold front passing through central Illinois. Several of the storms produced severe wind gusts.
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 Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 15, 9:50 AM CST, 1 hour 58 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 1050 AM CDT TUE MAY 15 2007 .UPDATE... SFC-BASED STORMS ARE BEGINNING TO FIRE JUST AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT WHICH IS NEARING THE ILLINOIS RIVER VALLEY LATE THIS MORNING. OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM EARLIER ELEVATED CONVECTION THAT MOVED INTO NORTHWESTERN ILLINOIS HAS SPREAD EAST... AND APPEARS TO BE SET UP ROUGHLY ALONG A TAYLORVILLE TO CHAMPAIGN LINE. WILL BE ADJUSTING FORECAST TO INCREASE POPS TO CATEGORICAL THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THOSE AREAS BORDERED BY THE ILLINOIS RIVER AND I-70... WHILE AREAS OF THE SOUTHEAST CWA SHOULD SEE ACTIVITY HOLD OFF UNTIL THE EARLY EVENING HOURS. WILL KEEP LIKELY POPS BUT DECREASE THUNDER COVERAGE TO ISOLATED ACROSS THE NORTHWEST CWA... WHERE STRATIFORM PRECIP REGION SHOULD MOVE IN LATER THIS AFTERNOON. SVR THREAT WILL BE HIGHEST ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE I-72 CORRIDOR... AND MAINLY EAST OF I-55 WHERE SKIES ARE MOSTLY CLEAR NOW... AND SFC HEATING WILL BE MAXIMIZED AHEAD OF THE FRONT. PRIMARY SVR THREAT WILL BE STRONG WINDS AS LOW LEVEL TDS... ALTHOUGH IMPROVING... ARE STILL SOMEWHAT LOW... RESULTING IN A FAIRLY GOOD ENVIRONMENT FOR DOWNBURSTS. ILX WILL BE LAUNCHING A RAOB BETWEEN 16 AND 17Z WHICH SHOULD CLUE US IN AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THE LOW AND MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES HAVE IMPROVED. THEY WERE NOT PARTICULARLY IMPRESSIVE AT 12Z. UPDATE SHOULD BE OUT BETWEEN 11 AND 1115 AM. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 345 AM CDT TUE MAY 15 2007/ COLD FRONT THIS MORNING ON THE DOORSTEP JUST WEST OF THE MISS RIVER VALLEY. PLENTY OF CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY FIRING ALONG AND JUST BEHIND IT THIS MORNING. THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...CLOUDS KEPT TEMPS FROM DROPPING TOO MUCH WEST OF INTERSTATE 55...WHILE AREAS IN THE FAR SERN COUNTIES RADIATED OUT MUCH MORE EFFICIENTLY. THIS STARTING POINT FOR BOTH LOCATIONS WILL PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THE HIGH TEMPS TODAY AHEAD OF THE FRONT. AS THIS FRONT CONTINUES TO PLOW ON THROUGH...TIME FOR THE WARM UP WILL BE AT A MINIMUM. PROBLEM IS...WHEREAS THE FRONT IS MOVING RATHER QUICKLY ACROSS THE REGION... THE MODELS ARE SLOWING ITS PROGRESSION. FORECAST LEANS SLIGHTLY TOWARDS THE CURRENT CONDITIONS...AND TEMPS TODAY WITH THE MORE MODERATE MOS. FRONTAL PASSAGE THROUGH THE DAY...AND QPF ENHANCED MOSTLY BEHIND THE FRONT...AND WITH A SECONDARY WAVE OF ENERGY OUT OF THE SW RIDING UP BEHIND IT HAS REQUIRED AN EXTENSION IN AREA OF THE CHANCE POPS FOR FROM 00Z TO 06Z. PRECIP TO TAPER OFF AFTER MIDNIGHT. HOWEVER...FOR WEDNESDAY...MODELS HAVE BEEN RELATIVELY CONSISTENT WITH THE DROPPING OF ANOTHER WAVE INTO THE MIDWEST FROM THE WRN GREAT LAKES REGION. WITH THE CONSIDERABLE UNCERTAINTY ABOUT THE SPEED AND TRANSITION OF ALL THE SYSTEMS AT THE MOMENT...AM STICKING WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS WITH A VERY LOW POP WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. CHANCES WILL DIMINISH CONSIDERABLY THE FURTHER TO THE WEST...BUT HAVE THE LOW POP RELATIVELY WIDESPREAD AT THE MOMENT TO CONTINUE THE TREND INTO THE GRIDS. LONG TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... DRY FORECAST BEYOND WEDNESDAY AS A VERY QUIET AND MILD PERIOD BEGINS...SLOWLY WARMING INTO NEXT WEEKEND. TEMPS BACK UP TO THE UPPER 70S/LOWER 80S BY SATURDAY. NEXT HINT OF PRECIP ACTIVITY FOR LATE IN THE WEEKEND/EARLY NEXT WEEK. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && UPDATE...HARDIMAN PREV DISC...HJS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 1144 AM CDT TUE MAY 15 2007 ILZ027>031-036-037-040-041-161100- FULTON-KNOX-MARSHALL-MASON-PEORIA-SCHUYLER-STARK-TAZEWELL- WOODFORD- 1144 AM CDT TUE MAY 15 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS CENTRAL ILLINOIS TODAY. A COLD FRONT MOVING INTO WESTERN ILLINOIS LATE THIS MORNING HAS TRIGGERED WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHEASTERN MISSOURI AND PARTS OF WESTERN ILLINOIS. THESE STORMS WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AS THE FRONT SHIFTS EAST THIS AFTERNOON. THE HIGHEST COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER... BUT A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE NORTH AND WEST OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER UNTIL THE FRONT CLEARS THE AREA BY MID-AFTERNOON. THE PRIMARY HAZARD WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND A SECONDARY THREAT OF LARGE HAIL. THE STORMS SHOULD HAVE MOVED EAST OF I-55 BY THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED BETWEEN 12 PM AND 3 PM TODAY. ILZ038-042>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-161100- CASS-CHAMPAIGN-CHRISTIAN-CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND- DE WITT-DOUGLAS-EDGAR-EFFINGHAM-JASPER-LAWRENCE-LOGAN-MACON- MCLEAN-MENARD-MORGAN-MOULTRIE-PIATT-RICHLAND-SANGAMON-SCOTT- SHELBY-VERMILION- 1144 AM CDT TUE MAY 15 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. A COLD FRONT MOVING INTO WESTERN ILLINOIS LATE THIS MORNING HAS TRIGGERED WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHEASTERN MISSOURI AND PARTS OF WESTERN ILLINOIS. THESE STORMS WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AS THE FRONT MOVES ACROSS ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE HIGHEST COVERAGE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER... AND ESPECIALLY IN THOSE AREAS EAST OF I-55 WHERE DAYTIME HEATING WILL BE MAXIMIZED PRIOR TO THE FRONT MOVING THROUGH. THE STORMS SHOULD CLEAR THE STATE BY 9 PM. THE PRIMARY HAZARD WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND A SECONDARY THREAT OF LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...ESPECIALLY BETWEEN 12 PM AND 7 PM. HARDIMAN
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:49 UTC.
12 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous reports of tree limbs down across southern Fulton county. The tree limbs were up to 10 inches in diameter.
Numerous trees and power lines were blown down. A small stationary construction trailer was blown over on I-55.
Several large trees were blown down. One person was injured when a large metal building being demolished was blown down.
Tree limbs and power lines were blown down. Several road construction signs were pulled out of the ground.|
Numerous tree limbs and power lines were blown down.|
Numerous tree limbs and power lines were blown down.|
A tree was blown over on top of a house.|
Several 2 to 3 inch tree branches were blown down.|
Numerous large tree limbs were blown down. One limb tore a porch roof off a house.|
Numerous tree limbs and power lines were blown down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2007
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: 21956, 21968, 21958, 21959, 21961, 21962, 21963, 21964, 21969, 21965, 21967, 21970.