A cold front triggered strong to severe thunderstorms across parts of central Illinois during the late afternoon and evening of September 5th. Many of the storms produced strong winds of 60 to 70 mph in a corridor from Scott and Cass County northeastward to Logan 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.
A cold front triggered strong to severe thunderstorms across parts of central Illinois during the late afternoon and evening of September 5th. Many of the storms produced strong winds of 60 to 70 mph in a corridor from Scott and Cass County northeastward to Logan County. Numerous trees, tree branches, and power lines were blown down in this area, with some of the most significant wind damage occurring in the town of Virginia in Cass 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 Sep 5, 2:00 PM CST, 1 hour 42 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 300 PM CDT Fri Sep 5 2014 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight) ISSUED AT 259 PM CDT FRI SEP 5 2014 Cold front moving into the Illinois River Valley this afternoon with plenty of warm and moist air ahead of it. CAPEs ahead of the boundary are in excess of 4000 J/kg, but shear is minimal and the cu field has not yet responded to a lot of the heat of the day. Most of the activity associated with the boundary is actually well behind it, co-located with the best shear, but little in the way of CAPE. The activity that initiated along boundary just to the north is actually far more diurnally supported as it races out ahead of it. Convection will have plenty of PW to work with in the column should any storms develop, resulting in high precip and a threat for some precip loading/small microbursts and associated damaging winds. So far, remaining in the Slight Risk, but just outside a watch. Updating the pops to increase invof the boundary through sunset, then spreading out a bit more after sundown as the boundary moves through the region overnight. Temperatures starting to drop at GBG, so the temp curve tonight will vary a bit from diurnal and the lows will vary somewhat nw of the Illinois River Valley should any clear pockets develop. But llvl moisture hanging around quite a bit with the precip behind the front should prevent too much of a drop. && .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Friday) ISSUED AT 259 PM CDT FRI SEP 5 2014 The cold front will be clear of the forecast area by Saturday morning. This should take most of the precipitation risk with it. However, have maintained some morning showers south of I-70, as much of the precipitation with this front will be on the cool side of the front with the better upper forcing. Aside from the slight morning risk of rainfall in our southeast counties, the balance of the weekend into early next week will offer quiet and cooler than normal weather as Canadian high pressure builds into the area. From Tuesday through the end of the period the relatively zonal flow across the lower 48 will trend increasingly cyclonic as troffing develops. Model agreement of the disturbances in this developing trof is not that great as far as specifics. However, there is general agreement that Tuesday-Thursday will feature periodic showers/storms and remain cooler than normal. It also appears that a much cooler area of high pressure will help dry things out by Friday, with high temperatures by then possibly not making it out of the 60s for at least a day or two. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Saturday afternoon) ISSUED AT 1250 PM CDT FRI SEP 5 2014 Only some small timing adjustments to the timing of the frontal boundary this afternoon as the cold front develops some showers and thunderstorms along the boundary. Some minor adjustments will likely be necessary as the front is slow to develop showers, though there is more than enough moisture in the boundary layer. Chance that the storms will initialize somewhere between the Illinois River Valley and a line btwn BMI and SPI... so PIA may end up behind the best chances for TS. That being said, showers well to the west still getting enough convection to have some thunder, so it will remain a VCTS mention for now. Time Heights keeping llvl moisture in place through the overnight and not clearing quickly, so low cigs...dropping to MVFR in the north for now...but may need to expand that to the southern terminals should enough rainfall accumulate. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && SHORT TERM...HJS LONG TERM...BAK AVIATION...HJS
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 1122 AM CDT FRI SEP 5 2014 ILZ027>031-036-037-040-041-047-061630- CASS-FULTON-KNOX-MARSHALL-MASON-PEORIA-SCHUYLER-STARK-TAZEWELL- WOODFORD- 1122 AM CDT FRI SEP 5 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A COLD FRONT WILL SLOWLY MAKE ITS WAY ACROSS CENTRAL ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WITH A FEW STORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS...HEAVY RAINFALL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING INTO EARLY THIS EVENING. AT THIS TIME...IT APPEARS THE THREAT FOR ORGANIZED SEVERE STORMS WILL BE TO THE EAST AND SOUTH THIS AFTERNOON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AFTER A MUCH COOLER AND DRIER AIR MASS INVADES THE AREA THIS WEEKEND...IT APPEARS A RATHER ACTIVE WEATHER PERIOD WILL BE SETTING UP AGAIN ACROSS CENTRAL ILLINOIS NEXT WEEK WITH THE NEXT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. HOWEVER...ANY REPORTS OF FLOODING OR STRONG WINDS WOULD BE APPRECIATED FROM OUR SPOTTERS. ILZ038-042>046-048>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-061630- CHAMPAIGN-CHRISTIAN-CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-DE WITT- DOUGLAS-EDGAR-EFFINGHAM-JASPER-LAWRENCE-LOGAN-MACON-MCLEAN-MENARD- MORGAN-MOULTRIE-PIATT-RICHLAND-SANGAMON-SCOTT-SHELBY-VERMILION- 1122 AM CDT FRI SEP 5 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A COLD FRONT WILL SLOWLY MAKE ITS WAY ACROSS CENTRAL ILLINOIS THIS AFTERNOON. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WITH STORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS...HEAVY RAINFALL AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING INTO EARLY THIS EVENING. THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER WITH THE STORMS THIS EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT FOR THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS...AND POSSIBLY LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY AFTER A MUCH COOLER AND DRIER AIR MASS INVADES THE AREA THIS WEEKEND...IT APPEARS A RATHER ACTIVE WEATHER PERIOD WILL BE SETTING UP AGAIN ACROSS CENTRAL ILLINOIS NEXT WEEK WITH THE NEXT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE FROM 4 PM TO 9 PM. ALSO...ANY REPORTS OF FLOODING OR STRONG WINDS WOULD BE APPRECIATED FROM ANY OF OUR SPOTTERS. HJS
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:42 UTC.
11 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees and power lines were blown down.
Numerous large tree limbs were blown down.
Strong winds damaged the roof of a school gym in Virginia.
A machine shed was destroyed.
A large tree limb was blown down in Petersburg just south of the IL-123 and 97 junction.
A large tree was blown across the Winchester/Glasgow Blacktop.
Power lines were blown down onto a house in Athens.
Numerous tree branches were blown down along I-55 northeast of Elkhart.
Several 12 to 15-inch diameter tree branches were blown down on the southeast side of Hoopeston.
Numerous tree branches and power lines were blown down.
A tree was blown down across a road.
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: 540554, 540555, 540556, 540557, 540559, 540560, 540561, 540567, 540563, 540565, 540566.