A large complex of slow-moving thunderstorms moved across south-central Illinois during the early morning hours of September 2nd. A few of the cells produced gusty winds of 50 to 60 mph that downed a couple of trees in Jasper and Lawrence counties.
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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 large complex of slow-moving thunderstorms moved across south-central Illinois during the early morning hours of September 2nd. A few of the cells produced gusty winds of 50 to 60 mph that downed a couple of trees in Jasper and Lawrence counties. In addition, rainfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches were common along and south of the I-70 corridor, leading to flash flooding.
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 Sep 1, 10:51 PM CST, 1 hour 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 1151 PM CDT Mon Sep 1 2014 .UPDATE... ISSUED AT 906 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2014 Still a somewhat tricky forecast for the overnight hours. Spotty convection, and it has been diminishing, persists to the north of the forecast area along the cold front. Meanwhile, convection continues to expand across Missouri and Kansas, and is starting to spread into southwest Illinois, along an old outflow boundary. Moisture is pooling along the outflow boundary, and precipitable water values along this axis are near two inches. Main concern through the night is how significant the local rainfall threat will be, mainly with the rains near the outflow boundary. Think the current flash flood watch in our southeast counties looks good. While some convection is beginning to spread into our southwest counties, the heavier rainfall is still well back to the southwest. The storms with the heavier rainfall also seem to be developing a bit of a cold pool with a more east to southeast trajectory developing as opposed to the northeast trajectory near our forecast area. This further south track of the heavier rainfall over the next several hours is also supported by the latest run of the HRRR. So, do not need to make significant changes to forecast overall. Most tweaks will be to try and fine tune the latest PoP trends. && .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Tuesday) ISSUED AT 216 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2014 18z/1pm surface analysis shows outflow boundary from late night convection across Iowa extending from near Kankakee to just west of Taylorville. Airmass behind the boundary has stabilized greatly, with the special 18z KILX upper air sounding showing less than 200J/kg of CAPE and a strong cap at around 850mb. Meanwhile ahead of the boundary, LAPS soundings indicate CAPES of 2000-2500J/kg and little to no capping. Will be watching the E/SE CWA for potential development over the next couple of hours, but window of opportunity will be small and any convection that fires will quickly push into Indiana. Next concern will be the heavy rain threat tonight. As has been advertised by the last several runs, latest models continue to show showers/thunderstorms becoming widespread along the trailing boundary tonight as 40-45kt LLJ develops from the Southern Plains northeastward into the Ohio River Valley. Still some questions as to exactly where the axis of heaviest rain will set up, with the NAM appearing to be a bit too far north. GFS/HRRR seem to have a better handle on the rain given current scenario. Think scattered showers/storms will develop across the southern half of the CWA early this evening, then as LLJ jet energy increases, areal coverage will expand toward midnight. With storms becoming parallel to upper flow and likely training over the same locations, am concerned about flash flood potential across the E/SE overnight. Precipitable water values ramp up to over 2 inches, while upper jet strengthens over the Great Lakes providing enhanced synoptic lift. Based on GFS/HRRR QPF fields, have decided to issue a Flash Flood Watch for all locations along/south of a Paris to Shelbyville line. Rainfall rates may exceed 2 inches per hour at times, leading to a flash flooding risk. Have gone with categorical PoPs across the Watch area, tapering down to just slight chance across the far north around Galesburg. Have lingered PoPs across the E/SE into Tuesday morning: however, all model guidance suggests frontal boundary will push south of the area and bring an end to the rain chances by midday. && .LONG TERM...(Tuesday night through Monday) ISSUED AT 216 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2014 The cold front should clear our southern counties by 7 pm Tues, leaving slightly drier air in its wake. That should provide a break in rain chances Tuesday night into early Wed morning. However, during the day Wed, the front is expected to return north as a warm front in Missouri and W IL. Sept 01/12z guidance has trended more aggressive with a shortwave on Wed moving across N Missouri into W IL, especially the Canadian GEM, and to a lesser extent the NAM/GFS. The 850mb LLJ will be mainly in MO, so as the wave moves east across IL it will be losing some support from moisture transport. We still expanded the chance PoPs farther northeast into IL, to include areas southeast of a line from Havana-Decatur-Lawrenceville, with slight chances up to Peoria-Champaign. The storms chances evolve to areas NW of the IL river for Wed night as the instability axis, thermal ridge, and nose of the 850mb LLJ advance toward NW IL. The warm front will respond by advancing north of our counties for Thursday, bringing a brief period of heat and humidity for Thur and Friday. Highs should climb into the upper 80s and lower 90s as dewpoints reach up into the low to mid 70s. Peak heat indices may reach into the upper 90s depending cloud cover. Low pressure moving along the Canadian border will drag a cold front into Illinois on Friday. Storm chances will increase NW of the IL river later Thurs night, with widespread chance PoPs for Friday and Friday night in the vicinity of the cold front. A few storms may even affect areas southeast of I-72 into Saturday morning. A significant airmass change will follow that frontal passage, as a 1024mb Canadian high builds southward. Highs Sunday and Monday will remain in the low to mid 70s, with lows bottoming out Sunday night in the mid 50s. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Tuesday night) ISSUED AT 1151 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2014 A band of showers and thunderstorms will continue to brush past KSPI, KDEC, and KCMI for the next several hours, but KPIA and KBMI should be largely dry. Conditions will likely degrade to MVFR as the rains continue and/or as fog develops in the case of KPIA/KBMI. Quieter weather and VFR conditions will prevail for most of the daytime hours Tuesday and into the evening as drier air filters into the area behind a cold front. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH until 7 AM CDT Tuesday FOR ILZ056-057-061>063- 066>068-071>073. && UPDATE...BAK SHORT TERM...BARNES LONG TERM...SHIMON AVIATION...BAK
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 317 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2014 ILZ027>031-036>038-040>055-021100- CASS-CHAMPAIGN-CHRISTIAN-DE WITT-DOUGLAS-FULTON-KNOX-LOGAN-MACON- MARSHALL-MASON-MCLEAN-MENARD-MORGAN-MOULTRIE-PEORIA-PIATT- SANGAMON-SCHUYLER-SCOTT-STARK-TAZEWELL-VERMILION-WOODFORD- 317 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT TONIGHT. SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY WHILE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FROM TIME TO TIME AS TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY LEVELS RISE...THE NEXT SIGNIFICANT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL HOLD OFF UNTIL FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ056-057-061>063-066>068-071>073-021100- CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-EDGAR-EFFINGHAM-JASPER- LAWRENCE-RICHLAND-SHELBY- 317 PM CDT MON SEP 1 2014 ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. WITH STORMS POTENTIALLY TRAINING OVER THE SAME LOCATIONS...HEAVY RAINFALL APPEARS TO BE LIKELY ALONG THE I-70 CORRIDOR. THEREFORE THE GREATEST SEVERE WEATHER THREAT TONIGHT WILL BE FLASH FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH TUESDAY MORNING. WHILE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FROM TIME TO TIME AS TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY LEVELS RISE...THE NEXT SIGNIFICANT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL HOLD OFF UNTIL FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT...HOWEVER ANY REPORTS OF HEAVY RAINFALL OR FLASH FLOODING WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. BARNES
The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 05:57 UTC.
4 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous trees were blown down just west of Sainte Marie.
Heavy downpours which produced 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour between 2200-0000 local time resulted in flash flooding across the southern half of Effingham County. Numerous rural roads were impassable, streets in the towns of Mason and Edgewood were flooded, and parts of U.S. Highway 45 near the Clay County line were closed. Several motorists had to be rescued after they drove into flooded ditches. The flooding subsided within three hours.
Heavy downpours which produced 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour between 2200-0000 local time resulted in flash flooding across the northern half of Clay County. Numerous rural roads were impassable, streets were flooded in the town of Hord, and parts of U.S. Highway 45 from the Effingham County line to about Louisville were closed. The flooding subsided within three hours.
A tree and several tree branches were blown down in Lawrenceville.
Heavy downpours which produced 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour between 2230-0030 local time resulted in flash flooding across much of Jasper County. Numerous rural roads were impassable, streets were flooded in Newton, and parts of Illinois Route 33 from Newton to the Crawford County line, as well as Illinois Route 130 just south of Newton, were closed. The flooding subsided within three hours.
Heavy downpours which produced 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour between 2300-0100 local time resulted in flash flooding across a large part of Crawford County. Numerous rural roads were impassable, streets were flooded in Robinson and Oblong, and two state highways were closed, including Illinois Route 1 from Robinson to Hutsonville and Illinois Route 33 from the Jasper County line to Palestine. The flooding subsided within three hours.
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, September 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: 540536, 543728, 543732, 540537, 543733, 543736.