A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across east central and southeast Illinois during the afternoon and early evening hours of the 27th. The storms blew down numerous trees and power lines.
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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 ILX wrote it up.
A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved across east central and southeast Illinois during the afternoon and early evening hours of the 27th. The storms blew down numerous trees and power lines. Several structures, mainly outbuildings, also sustained wind damage.
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 Jun 27, 1:29 PM CST, 2 hours 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 229 PM CDT FRI JUN 27 2008 .DISCUSSION... ISSUED 228 PM CDT FRI JUN 27 2008 PROBLEM OF THE DAY IS THE CONVECTION TONIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING...THEN SOME INSTABILITY SHOWER PCPN ON SUNDAY...AND FINALLY FRONTAL PCPN ON THURSDAY TO FRIDAY. SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. MAIN SURFACE FRONTAL BOUNDARY IN MSAS DATA OVER CENTRAL IL. IN MOISTURE CHANNEL SATELLITE IMAGERY...A NUMBER OF WAVE OF UPPER LEVEL IMAGERY ARE SEEN. MAIN UPPER SYSTEM OVER SOUTHERN CANADA ROTATING SOUTH TOWARD ND. IN THE PLAINS...LAST NIGHTS CONVECTION LEFT BEHIND A NUMBER OF WEAK VORTEX SYSTEMS...WITH ONE MOVING EAST OVER NORTHWEST IL. A MORE SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVE SEEN MOVING EAST OVER CENTRAL IA...WITH A MCV ON THE IL/IA BORDER. THIS SYSTEM IS THE MAIN TRIGGER FOR THE CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT AHEAD OF IT IN VERY UNSTABLE AIR OVER EAST MO AND IL. THOUGH HAD MORNING PCPN THAT MOVED THROUGH AND STABILIZED AIRMASS...CLOUDS IN VISIBLE IMAGERY HAVE THINNED AND ALLOWED HEATING IN MO AND WESTERN IL. SEVERAL STORMS ALREADY DEVELOPED IN THE INSTABILITY AND ON LEFT OVER BOUNDARIES FROM MORNING CONVECTION. EXPECT STORMS TO CONTINUE TO DEVELOP INTO EVENING AND OVERNIGHT ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE MCV AND AHEAD OF FRONT. FRONT FINALLY CLEARS BY SATURDAY MIDDAY. FOR SUNDAY...UPPER LEVEL COLD LOW IN GREAT LAKES AND INSTABILITY SHOWERS POSSIBLE IN UNSTABLE AIRMASS. LONG TERM...MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. MODELS LOOK PRETTY MUCH IN AGREEMENT FOR MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. HOWEVER FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY...THEY THEN DIVERGE. NORTHWEST UPPER LEVEL FLOW WILL BE DOMAINATE FOR THE MONDAY TO WEDNESDAY PERIOD...KEEPING THE AREA DRY. NO CHANGES TO THE GRIDS FOR THOSE DAYS. FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY THOUGH...GFS IS MUCH SLOWER ON A COLD FRONTAL SYSTEM MOVING SOUTHWARD...WITH EUROPEAN BRINGNING FRONT THROUGH CWA INTO OH VALLEY BY SAT MORNING. NCEP GUIDANCE APPEARS TO BE MORE GOING WITH GFS. I LIKE THE MORE AGRESSIVE EUR...SO WNET MORE WITH A BLEND...BRINGING PCPN CHANCES INTO THE REGION FOR THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT. LINGERED THE PCPN FOR FRIDAY OVER SOUTHERN 2/3 TO TRY AND BELND THE TWO MODELS. GOETSCH && .AVIATION... ISSUED 1213 PM CDT FRI JUN 27 2008 VFR WILL BE THE PREDOMINANT WX IN BETWEEN PERIODS OF CONVECTION. MAIN CONCERN IS WITH STORMS BEGINNING TO FIRE UP INVOF OLD MCV OVER NORTHEASTERN MISSOURI. ALSO NOTE SOUTHWESTERLY WIND SHIFT MOVING AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE. REDEVELOPMENT OF STORMS OVERNIGHT ALONG COLD FRONT IS QUESTIONABLE ESPECIALLY IN THE FAR WEST...WENT WITH PROB30 GROUPS FOR NOW. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 350 PM CDT FRI JUN 27 2008 ILZ036-040-041-047-049-050-281100- CASS-FULTON-MASON-MORGAN-SCHUYLER-SCOTT- 350 PM CDT FRI JUN 27 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. THEN A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO THE REGION TONIGHT AND BRING A SECOND ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA FOR THIS EVENING AND INTO TONIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY EVEN TORNADOES. IN ADDITION...THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL. THE ILLINOIS RIVER WILL REMAIN IN FLOOD AT HAVANA AND POINTS DOWNSTREAM THROUGH THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN ON SUNDAY. HOWEVER AT THIS TIME NONE OF THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS EVENING AND INTO TONIGHT. ILZ027>031-037-038-042>046-048-051>057-061>063-066>068-071>073- 281100- CHAMPAIGN-CHRISTIAN-CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-DE WITT- DOUGLAS-EDGAR-EFFINGHAM-JASPER-KNOX-LAWRENCE-LOGAN-MACON-MARSHALL- MCLEAN-MENARD-MOULTRIE-PEORIA-PIATT-RICHLAND-SANGAMON-SHELBY- STARK-TAZEWELL-VERMILION-WOODFORD- 350 PM CDT FRI JUN 27 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. THEN A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO THE REGION TONIGHT AND BRING A SECOND ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA FOR THIS EVENING AND INTO TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK THAT SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY EVEN TORNADOES. IN ADDITION...THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY SEVERAL WEATHER DISTURBANCES WILL IMPACT THE REGION THROUGH SATURDAY. THESE DISTURBANCES WILL BRING A PERIODIC CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH THEM. AT THIS TIME...THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE STORMS APPEARS TO BE FRIDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS EVENING AND INTO TONIGHT. HARDIMAN
The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:50 UTC.
10 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees and tree limbs were blown down.
Numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down. 5 homes sustained minor damage from falling trees and tree limbs. One home had some of its windows blown in from the high winds.
Numerous trees, tree limbs, and power lines were blown down in and around Flora. One falling tree caused severe damage to a pickup truck. Several mobile homes had skirting and siding blown off.
Numerous tree limbs were blown down.
A large tree was blown down across Highway 130.
Numerous trees, tree limbs, and power lines were blown down. One tree fell on a house and tore off gutters, while another tree fell on two cars. Several structures sustained damage, including four machine sheds that had their roof blown off and a hog barn that was destroyed.
A large tree was blown down.
A large metal pole building was destroyed. Also, a barn and several other outbuildings sustained damage. Corn was flattened in some area fields.
Numerous large tree limbs were blown down between Birds and Russellville.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, June 2008
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: 115093, 115094, 115095, 115097, 115098, 115099, 115100, 115101, 115102, 115103, 115104.