A strong cold front moved through the region, triggering showers and thunderstorms. Several of the storms produced large hail and damaging winds.
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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 cold front moved through the region, triggering showers and thunderstorms. Several of the storms produced large hail and damaging winds.
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 21, 2:41 PM CST, 1 hour 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 341 PM CDT Wed May 21 2014 .SHORT TERM: (Through Late Tonight) Issued at 1256 PM CDT Wed May 21 2014 Cold front extended from just north of UIN southwest through MCI. This front will move southward through our forecast area tonight, and should extend from west central MO southeast through southern IL by 12z Thursday. The cap should break late this afternoon with scattered convection developing along this front. The HRRR model has most of the convection across northeast MO and west central IL early this evening, then shifts it southward with most of the convection from around COU east through the St Louis metro area to Vandalia and Salem IL by midnight. Some of these storms may be severe due to very unstable conditions late this afternoon and this evening with CAPEs of 2000-3000 J/Kg and surface LI values as low as -10 south of the cold front. Low-mid level shear will also be relatively strong with 500 mb wind speeds of up to 50 kts due to a 500 mb wind max moving through the Great Lakes region. GKS .LONG TERM: (Thursday through Next Wednesday) Issued at 340 PM CDT Wed May 21 2014 The cold front will continue to sag slowly southward as a surface ridge shifts eastward from the northern Plains into the Great Lakes region. At least scattered convection is expected along and just behind this front as weak shortwaves move east southeastward through our area over the mid-upper level ridge centered over the Gulf Coast states. The best coverage of convection should be across central and southeast MO Thursday and Thursday night as the front becomes more nw to se oriented. The ECMWF model appears to be a little too far north with its qpf from Thursday afternoon into Friday morning. Cooler and drier air will advect into the region behind the cold front, particularly across northeast MO and west central IL. The mid-upper level low now over NV will move slowly through the southwest US. Weak shortwaves will eject northeastward from this feature and bring more convection mainly to the western portion of our forecast area Saturday and Saturday night with the upper level ridge along with the surface ridge centered over the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions keeping the eastern portion of our forecast area dry. The mid-upper level low will eventually move into the Plains by Monday. The models have varying solutions after this with the ECMWF model moving it into MO by Tuesday, while the GFS model weakens it and has it passing south of our area. With this model uncertainty will just include chance pops for early next week, although there may be more widespread showers/storms for Monday night and Tuesday. Always difficult to forecast the exact path, strength and speed of upper level lows coming out of the southwest US. GKS && .AVIATION: (For the 18z TAFs through 18z Thursday Afternoon) Issued at 1214 PM CDT Wed May 21 2014 Cold front over northwestern Missouri will continue to sag southward today into this evening, reaching KUIN by around 03Z, then pushing into KCOU and KSTL metro TAF sites by 05Z. Unstable airmass ahead of the front may fuel scattered thunderstorms this afternoon into early evening, however coverage is uncertain so will address in the TAFS with several hours of VCTS and update frequently as the situation becomes more clear. Any storms should diminish overnight with loss of strong daytime heating. VFR conditions expected otherwise on Wednesday with winds veering to northeast. Specifics for KSTL: Scattered thunderstorms may form near approaching cold front from 23Z until around 05Z. Coverage is uncertain however and may be rather limited, so handled in the TAF with a VCTS. Otherwise expect VFR conditions. Surface winds will back from west this afternoon through north with frontal passage around 05Z, then become northeast. Browning && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES: MO...NONE. IL...NONE. && WFO LSX
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 348 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014 ILZ058>060-064-065-069-070-074-079-095>102-MOZ018-019-026-027- 034>036-041-042-047>052-059>065-072>075-084-085-099-221215- 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 MO- LEWIS MO-SHELBY MO-MARION MO-MONROE MO-RALLS MO-PIKE MO-BOONE MO- AUDRAIN MO-MONITEAU MO-COLE MO-OSAGE MO-CALLAWAY MO-MONTGOMERY MO- LINCOLN MO-GASCONADE MO-WARREN MO-ST. CHARLES MO-FRANKLIN MO- ST. LOUIS MO-ST. LOUIS CITY MO-JEFFERSON MO-CRAWFORD MO- WASHINGTON MO-ST. FRANCOIS MO-STE. GENEVIEVE MO-IRON MO- MADISON MO-REYNOLDS MO- 348 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL MISSOURI AS WELL AS WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. SOME OF THE STORMS WILL BE STRONG TO SEVERE AND CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL OR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE IS A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS FROM THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE AREA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING. GKS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
317 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0313 PM HAIL 5 SW TROY 38.93N 91.04W
05/21/2014 E0.25 INCH LINCOLN MO TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
FUCHSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
338 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0337 PM HAIL WASHINGTON 38.55N 91.01W
05/21/2014 E0.25 INCH FRANKLIN MO COUNTY OFFICIAL
WEST SIDE OF WASHINGTON.
&&
FUCHSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
347 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0342 PM HAIL ST. LOUIS 38.64N 90.24W
05/21/2014 E0.25 INCH ST. LOUIS CITY MO TRAINED SPOTTER
AT CASS AND NORTH BROADWAY IN ST. LOUIS CITY.
&&
FUCHSSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 412 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014 ILZ100-101-MOZ063-064-212145- MADISON IL-ST. CLAIR IL-ST. LOUIS MO-ST. LOUIS CITY MO- 412 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ST. LOUIS CITY...CENTRAL ST. LOUIS...NORTHERN ST. CLAIR AND SOUTHWESTERN MADISON COUNTIES UNTIL 445 PM CDT... AT 410 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR HILLSDALE...MOVING EAST AT 45 MPH. HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF PENNIES IS EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE... RIVERVIEW... ST. LOUIS... VENICE... MADISON... GRANITE CITY... CAHOKIA... EAST ST. LOUIS... WASHINGTON PARK... CENTREVILLE... CASEYVILLE... THIS STORM WILL ALSO IMPACT HORSESHOE LAKE STATE PARK AND SCOTT JOPLIN HISTORIC SITE. THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS... FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. TILLY
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
448 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0437 PM HAIL VENEDY 38.40N 89.65W
05/21/2014 E0.25 INCH WASHINGTON IL TRAINED SPOTTER
BRIEF SPURT OF PEA-SIZE HAIL.
&&
FUCHSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
452 PM CDT WED MAY 21 2014
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0450 PM HAIL 6 W NASHVILLE 38.35N 89.49W
05/21/2014 E0.25 INCH WASHINGTON IL TRAINED SPOTTER
PEA-SIZED HAIL LASTED ABOUT 10 SECONDS.
&&
FUCHSThe St Louis radar (KLSX), 120 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:56 UTC.
3 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds blew down several power lines around Nashville.
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: 522192, 522193, 522194, 522195.