An approaching cold front interacted with a very warm and humid airmass to trigger scattered strong thunderstorms across west-central Illinois during the evening of May 12th. A few of the cells produced minor wind damage in both Pekin and East Peoria in Tazewell County.
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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.
An approaching cold front interacted with a very warm and humid airmass to trigger scattered strong thunderstorms across west-central Illinois during the evening of May 12th. A few of the cells produced minor wind damage in both Pekin and East Peoria in Tazewell County.
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 12, 7:53 PM CST, 47 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lincoln IL 853 PM CDT Mon May 12 2014 .DISCUSSION... ISSUED 850 PM CDT Mon May 12 2014 Updating forecast tonight to address convection chances as band of showers and thunderstorms moving ne toward the IL river at mid evening, spreads into eastern IL overnight and Tue morning as it weakens. Isolated strong to severe storms possible next hour or two nw of the IL river but main severe wx threat has shifted into far northern IL near the WI border near warm front. SPC has trimmed slight risk of severe storms this evening to areas from Peoria north, including Peoria, Woodford, Knox, Stark and Marshall counties. 1005 mb low pressure along the SE MN and WI border has a cold front extending southward through eastern IA into central MO and nw AR. Moist and unstable airmass over IL with dewpoints of 65 to 70F with breezy south winds. Leading edge of showers and thunderstorms was between Galesburg and Peoria to near Jacksonville and west of St Louis metro. Cold front to track east to near I-57 by 12Z/7 am Tue. Forecast lows look on track tonight. Mild lows in the mid to upper 60s over eastern IL ahead of cold front tonight while cooler mid to upper 50s behind the cold front over the IL river valley. 07 && .AVIATION... ISSUED 615 PM CDT Mon May 12 2014 Coverage of convection tonight and affect on ceilings the main forecast concern. Cold front analyzed west of I-35 late this afternoon and forecast to push into our area after midnight tonight. Convection expected to increase in coverage this evening across the west and then start to affect our western TAF sites (PIA, SPI) from 00z-03z and from 03z to 06z for the remainder of our locations (BMI, DEC and CMI). Looks as if SPI and PIA will see the cigs drop to MVFR cat at times with some of the heavier showers and then become MVFR into the morning hours, with points east seeing the deterioration later this evening, probably after 05z. Frontal timing looks to range from 08-10z at PIA and SPI, 10z-12z DEC and BMI and by 15z at CMI. Winds ahead of the front tonight will be out of the south at 10 to 15 kts with some higher gusts possible in and near and storms that approach a terminal site, and then winds will veer into the west and northwest after FROPA with speeds ranging from 10 to 15 kts on Tuesday. Smith && .PREV DISCUSSION... ISSUED 252 PM CDT Mon May 12 2014 Warm and rather humid day across the forecast area today, with dew points in the upper 60s to around 70 degrees and temperatures mostly in the 80s. Air mass over our area is uncapped and CAPE's are from 3500-4000 J/kg in central Illinois, but so far convection in our CWA has been spotty. More widespread showers/storms have been occurring across the Ohio Valley. Main action has been filling in across Iowa and the northwest half of Missouri, along a cold front. SHORT TERM...Tonight through Thursday: Initial forecast concern is on the severe weather potential the next several hours. The individual storms to our west have been moving northeast with the overall area only slowly shifting eastward. The HRRR and NMM high-resolution models have that particular band of storms reaching the Illinois River around 6 to 7 pm and the I-55 corridor around 9 to 10 pm. Surface observations over the area are not showing any meaningful boundary currently present, thus the popcorn nature of the showers/storms so far. Infrared and water vapor imagery showing some anti-cyclonic motion over our CWA, which could be causing enough sinking of the air to keep the showers under control so far. 0-6km shear values expected to remain rather modest in most areas, so am thinking that the storms will remain rather disorganized but briefly severe until the main line gets here. Loss of daytime heating should weaken the line of storms somewhat as it moves through tonight, but CAPE's remain 1000-2000 J/kg ahead of the front so there will still be some instability to work with. Morning model runs have the front roughly along the Indiana border by midday, with threat of thunder diminishing from west to east through the day. Have kept the dry weather west of I-55 for the afternoon with likely PoP's across east central and southeast Illinois continuing in the afternoon. Temperatures across the east will be slowly falling in the afternoon behind the front. Long-advertised phasing of upper troughs in the north central and southwest U.S. will try to take place the next couple days, although the models keep them somewhat distinct through mid week. Development of a surface low will take place Tuesday night across the lower Mississippi Valley, and this low will be ejected northeast on the nose of a developing 90-110 knot jet. Dry northeast flow will erode the northern fringes of the rain shield some, so will continue to focus the higher PoP's on Wednesday across the southeast half of the forecast area. As the surface low moves northeast, a large upper low will develop over the upper Mississippi Valley, so the threat of showers will continue even after the main precipitation shield exits. High temperatures both Wednesday and Thursday only expected to be in the upper 50s to around 60 most areas due to the cooler air aloft and the rain. LONG TERM...Friday through Monday: The cool and showery weather will continue into Friday, before the upper low starts to lift into Ontario and the upper pattern over the U.S. flattens out somewhat. A fast moving wave in the upper flow tracks an area of rain southeast later in the weekend, with the ECMWF model about 12-18 hours faster and a bit further north. Have limited PoP's on Saturday night and Sunday to slight chances across the south half of the forecast area, but this may need to be bumped up if these trends persist on the next couple model runs. A more substantial warming trend will occur early next week, as ridging occurs across the Plains. Geelhart && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 330 PM CDT MON MAY 12 2014 ILZ027>031-036>038-040>055-061-131100- CASS-CHAMPAIGN-CHRISTIAN-DE WITT-DOUGLAS-FULTON-KNOX-LOGAN-MACON- MARSHALL-MASON-MCLEAN-MENARD-MORGAN-MOULTRIE-PEORIA-PIATT- SANGAMON-SCHUYLER-SCOTT-SHELBY-STARK-TAZEWELL-VERMILION-WOODFORD- 330 PM CDT MON MAY 12 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS CURRENTLY EXTENDING FROM CENTRAL IOWA SOUTHWESTWARD INTO THE KANSAS CITY AREA WILL SHIFT EASTWARD INTO CENTRAL ILLINOIS TONIGHT. THE STORMS WILL REACH THE ILLINOIS RIVER VALLEY AFTER 7 PM...THEN WILL GRADUALLY PUSH TOWARD THE I-57 CORRIDOR TOWARD MIDNIGHT. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THE STORMS...ALTHOUGH THEY WILL LIKELY WEAKEN WITH TIME AS DAYTIME INSTABILITY FADES AFTER SUNSET. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING UNTIL MIDNIGHT. ILZ056-057-062-063-066>068-071>073-131100- CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-EDGAR-EFFINGHAM-JASPER- LAWRENCE-RICHLAND- 330 PM CDT MON MAY 12 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A BROKEN LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL PUSH EAST OF THE I-57 CORRIDOR AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. A FEW OF THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS...HOWEVER SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO TUESDAY ALONG AND EAST OF I-57...HOWEVER SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. BARNES
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
733 PM CDT MON MAY 12 2014
ILZ040-130130-
SCHUYLER-
733 PM CDT MON MAY 12 2014
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SCHUYLER COUNTY UNTIL 830 PM
CDT...
AT 728 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR CLAYTON...OR 20 MILES WEST OF
RUSHVILLE...MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
PENNY SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS
STORM.
PEOPLE IN SCHUYLER COUNTY...INCLUDING THE CITY OF LITTLETON...
RUSHVILLE AND WEINBERG STATE PARK SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER
SITUATION CLOSELY. LISTEN FOR POSSIBLE WARNINGS...AND BE PREPARED TO
TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN.
LAT...LON 4029 9091 4028 9045 4019 9045 4018 9034
4002 9063 4005 9068 4007 9068 4008 9071
4010 9071 4010 9089 4011 9092 4024 9092
TIME...MOT...LOC 0032Z 238DEG 34KT 4007 9089
SMITHSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
940 PM CDT MON MAY 12 2014
ILZ042-043-048-051>053-061-130345-
CHRISTIAN-DE WITT-LOGAN-MACON-MENARD-SANGAMON-SHELBY-
940 PM CDT MON MAY 12 2014
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CHRISTIAN...DE WITT...EASTERN
MENARD...EASTERN SANGAMON...LOGAN...NORTHWESTERN SHELBY AND WESTERN
MACON COUNTIES UNTIL 1045 PM CDT...
AT 937 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING
THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM LINCOLN TO VIRDEN...MOVING
EAST AT 30 MPH. JUST AHEAD OF THIS LINE...WINDS SWITCH INTO THE WEST
AND MAY GUST UP TO 50 MPH AT TIMES AS THE OUTFLOW BOUNDARY SHIFTS TO
THE EAST OVER THE NEXT HOUR.
PEOPLE IN CHRISTIAN...DE WITT...LOGAN...MACON...MENARD...SANGAMON AND
SHELBY COUNTIES...INCLUDING THE CITIES OF ELKHART...WILLIAMSVILLE...
CHATHAM...SPRINGFIELD...AUBURN...SHERMAN...RIVERTON...DIVERNON...
LINCOLN AND ROCHESTER...SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER SITUATION CLOSELY.
LISTEN FOR POSSIBLE WARNINGS...AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE APPROPRIATE
ACTION SHOULD SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN.
LAT...LON 4028 8946 4026 8873 3945 8911 3944 8954
3952 8954 3952 8983
TIME...MOT...LOC 0239Z 270DEG 28KT 4019 8937 3952 8970
SMITHThe Lincoln radar (KILX), 53 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:42 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A few trees and power lines were blown down in Pekin.
An 8-inch diameter tree limb was blown down on Fondulac Drive in East Peoria.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2014
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: 518857, 518858.