A strong low pressure system that caused rain across the area the previous 3 days finally lifted northeast. As it did, scattered thunderstorms developed, a few of which formed weak tornadoes.
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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 LSX wrote it up.
A strong low pressure system that caused rain across the area the previous 3 days finally lifted northeast. As it did, scattered thunderstorms developed, a few of which formed weak tornadoes. These cold-air type tornadoes lasted for only a few minutes and produced no damage. However, they were seen by many people and one was filmed by a local television station traffic helicopter.
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 St. Louis, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 4, 1:47 PM CST, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 247 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2007 .DISCUSSION... UPPER LOW IS SLOWLY MOVING ACROSS SE MISSOURI AND INTO SW ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON AS WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTH ACROSS THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE CWA. NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FORMING ALONG THE FRONT AS BROKEN CEILINGS HAVE ALLOWED TEMPERATURES TO RISE INTO THE LOWER AND MIDDLE 70S SOUTH OR WEST OF THE FRONT. MEANWHILE...AREA OF RAIN WITH EMBEDDED CONVECTION CONTINUES TO ROTATE NORTH AND WEST WITH UPPER LEVEL LOW. ALL IN ALL...ANOTHER VERY WET DAY. THE UPPER LEVEL LOW/WAVE SHOULD CONTINUE EAST TONIGHT...WITH A DECREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY OF RADAR ECHOES WITH LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING. IF SKIES CAN CLEAR ACROSS CENTRAL MISSOURI THIS EVENING...LOCALLY DENSE FOG FORMATION WILL BE LIKELY OVERNIGHT IN THE LOW LYING AREAS DUE TO A SATURATED ATMOSPHERE AT LOW LEVELS. WILL MENTION PATCHY FOG IN THE ZONES AND ALERT ONCOMING SHIFT OF THIS POSSIBILITY. UPPER LEVEL RIDGE BUILDS ACROSS THE CWA ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY WITH PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND WARMER TEMPERATURES EXPECTED AS 850MB TEMPERATURES RISE. HAVE KEPT SLIGHT CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS BOTH SATURDAY AND SUNDAY AFTERNOON AS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE REMAINS AND DAYTIME HEATING WILL ALLOW SUFFICIENT INSTABILITY FOR ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW BROAD CONVERGENCE ZONE ACROSS THE CWA AS MOIST FLOW FROM THE GULF BATTLES WITH DRY INTRUSION FROM THE EAST. THIS FEATURE COULD HELP INTIATIATE OR FOCUS CONVECTION. AM NOT EXPECTING ANY WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER...ALTHOUGH SOME PENNY SIZE HAIL OR 60 MPH WIND GUSTS WITH THE STRONGEST CELLS WOULD NOT SURPRISE ME. GIVEN SATURATED SOILS...ANY PERSISTENT THUNDERSTORM COULD PRODUCE A FLOODING THREAT. ATTENTION TURNS TO THE WEST NEXT WEEK AS UPPER LEVEL LOW ACROSS THE WESTERN CONUS BEGINS TO WEAKEN AND EJECT SEVERAL SHORTWAVES EAST BEFORE PULLING EAST ITSELF ACROSS THE MIDWEST. NOT MANY CHANGES MADE TO THE FORECAST AS THERE WILL BE INCREASING CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK...UNTIL THE WAVE PASSES TO OUR EAST. TEMPERATURES TO REMAIN SEASONABLY WARM AS SOUTHERLY FLOW PERSISTS THROUGH THE EXTENDED FORECAST. CVKING && .AVIATION... FOR THE 18Z TAFS... AREA OF SHWRS/EMBDD TSRA ASSOC WITH UPR LO SHUD DRIFT INTO STL AREA TAF LOCATIONS THIS AFTN. ALTHO PREVAILING WX SHUD TRY TO IMPROVE...MDT RA WL LIKELY CAUSE OCNL IFR VSBYS AND CIGS AT BOTH KSTL AND KSUS. KUIN SHUD BE ON THE FRINGES OF THIS PCPN SHIELD AND EXPERIENCE SLOW IMPROVEMENT...WHILE ANY PCPN IN KCOU AREA SHUD BE FROM DVLPMT OF TSRA/SHRA AS AMS DESTABILIZES. W/O GOOD FOCUSING MECHANISM HV OPTED TO NOWCAST TSRA THRT IN TAF LOCATIONS DURG THE AFTN HRS. PCPN THRT FOR ALL LOCATIONS SHUD END BY ERY THIS EVE...BUT WITH AMPLE LO LVL MSTR AND E LO LVL FLO THINK CIGS/VSBYS WL BOTH DETERIORATE QUICKLY AFT SNST...MUCH QUICKER THAN INDICATED MOS. TRUETT && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... MO...NONE. IL...NONE. && WFO LSX
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 330 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2007 ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027- 034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-051200- GREENE IL-MACOUPIN IL-MONTGOMERY IL-BOND IL-FAYETTE IL-CLINTON IL- MARION IL-WASHINGTON IL-RANDOLPH IL-ADAMS IL-BROWN IL-PIKE IL- CALHOUN IL-JERSEY IL-MADISON IL-ST. CLAIR IL-MONROE IL-KNOX-LEWIS- SHELBY-MARION-MONROE-RALLS-PIKE-BOONE-AUDRAIN-MONITEAU-COLE-OSAGE- CALLAWAY-MONTGOMERY-LINCOLN-GASCONADE-WARREN-ST. CHARLES-FRANKLIN- ST. LOUIS-ST. LOUIS CITY-JEFFERSON-CRAWFORD-WASHINGTON- ST. FRANCOIS-STE. GENEVIEVE-IRON-MADISON-REYNOLDS- 330 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL MISSOURI AS WELL AS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS EVENING. DUE TO THE SLOW MOVEMENT OF THESE STORMS AND THE FACT THAT THE SOIL IS SATURATED LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLOODING IS POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ATTENTION IS REQUIRED. SPOTTERS ARE ASKED TO RELAY RAINFALL REPORTS AND ANY FLOODING TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST. LOUIS. CVKING
The St Louis radar (KLSX), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:05 UTC.
3 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A weak tornado formed in a field west of Gillespie. There was no damage.
A weak tornado formed in an open area east of Wood River. The tornado lasted for several minutes but moved very little. A local television traffic helicopter filmed the tornado for several minutes.
A weak tornado formed in a field northeast of Shipman. There was no damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 2007Warnings 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: 35465, 35467, 35466.