Late morning and early afternoon sunshine was the fuel for a couple rounds of showers and thunderstorms across the region August 19. The storms brought heavy rain to most areas, with rainfall amounts between a half inch and and inch and a half common.
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 DVN wrote it up.
Late morning and early afternoon sunshine was the fuel for a couple rounds of showers and thunderstorms across the region August 19. The storms brought heavy rain to most areas, with rainfall amounts between a half inch and and inch and a half common. In addition, tornadoes were reported from central Illinois all the way up to the Twin Cities. With all of the cloud cover during the afternoon, high temperatures only topped out in the upper 70s to lower 80s.
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 Aug 19, 10:10 AM CST, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 1110 AM CDT WED AUG 19 2009 .UPDATE... WARM AIR ADVECTION OVER THE REGION WITH BROAD PRESSURE FALLS OCCURRING. DECENT LOW LEVEL JET TO 35 KNOTS SEEN ON PROFILER NETWORK MAINTAINING BAND OF SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS PUSHING INTO SE IA AND NORTHERN MO. WITH CLOUD COVER RAPIDLY SPREADING NORTHEAST AHEAD OF BAND OF PRECIPITATION INSTABILITY WILL BE LIMITED. THIS AREA OF SHOWERS AND SCATTERED STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO PROGRESS NORTHEAST OVER ALL OF THE CWA LATE THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON AHEAD OF WARM FRONT LIFTING OUT OF MO. WARM FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING BUT FORECAST SOUNDINGS INDICATE A STRENGTHENING CAP. THEREFORE APPEARS SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL BE MORE SCATTERED THIS EVENING SO HAVE LOWERED POPS. THE MAIN EVENT LOOKS TO BE AFTER MIDNIGHT. THIS IS WHEN WE WILL HAVE DEWPOINTS OF AT LEAST 70...STRONG DYNAMICS AND COLD FRONT ARRIVING FROM THE WEST. SOUNDINGS INDICATE STRONG WIND FIELDS WITH 500 MB WINDS OF 60 KNOTS. THIS SUGGESTS POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WINDS IN THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING ALONG WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. && .AVIATION... OCNL SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT WITH MVFR CONDITIONS. && .DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... IA...NONE. IL...NONE. MO...NONE. && HAASE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 1211 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2009 IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007- 009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-201630- BUCHANAN-DELAWARE-DUBUQUE-BENTON-LINN-JONES-JACKSON-IOWA-JOHNSON- CEDAR-CLINTON-MUSCATINE-SCOTT-KEOKUK-WASHINGTON-LOUISA-JEFFERSON- HENRY IA-DES MOINES-VAN BUREN-LEE-JO DAVIESS-STEPHENSON-CARROLL- WHITESIDE-ROCK ISLAND-HENRY IL-BUREAU-PUTNAM-MERCER-HENDERSON- WARREN-HANCOCK-MCDONOUGH-SCOTLAND-CLARK- 1211 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...NORTHWEST ILLINOIS...WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL IOWA...NORTHEAST IOWA...SOUTHEAST IOWA AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE THROUGH THE OUTLOOK AREA THIS AFTERNOON AHEAD OF A WARM FRONT. SUPERCELLS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG THE WARM FRONT...ESPECIALLY IN SOUTHEAST IOWA...WESTERN ILLINOIS AND NORTHEAST MISSOURI. TORNADOES...DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE POSSIBLE. THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME EVEN MORE UNSTABLE TONIGHT AS THE WARM FRONT LIFTS TO THE NORTHEAST OF THE OUTLOOK AREA. STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED TONIGHT...MAINLY AFTER 10 PM. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. STRONG DYNAMICS AND A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL BE ADVANCING FROM THE WEST WHICH SHOULD TRIGGER NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL OF AT LEAST 1 TO 2 INCHES IS ALSO LIKELY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER INTO THURSDAY MORNING EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BUT SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND AGAIN LATE THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. HAASE
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
159 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2009
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0157 PM HEAVY RAIN 2 NE COLUSA 40.59N 91.14W
08/19/2009 M1.68 INCH HANCOCK IL TRAINED SPOTTER
RAIN FELL BETWEEN 125 AND 140 PM.
&&
LEGROThe Lincoln radar (KILX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:27 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew down some 2 to 3 inch diameter tree branches on Route 9 about 3 miles east of Good Hope, IL around 226 pm August 19.
Heavy rain resulted in flash flooding just northwest of Warner, IL during the late afternoon of August 19. Rainfall totals of 2 to 3 inches fell in about a 30 minute period between 3 and 4 pm. Flooding was observed in the basement of a residence.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, August 2009
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: 192240, 192246.