A strong storm system tracking from the Southern Plains into the Great Lakes brought unseasonably warm weather to central Illinois on December 14th. A line of showers associated with the system passed through the region during the pre-dawn hours, creating wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 ILX wrote it up.
A strong storm system tracking from the Southern Plains into the Great Lakes brought unseasonably warm weather to central Illinois on December 14th. A line of showers associated with the system passed through the region during the pre-dawn hours, creating wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph. A few localized areas reported gusts as high as 70 to 80 mph, including across portions of rural DeWitt County where a pole barn was severely damaged southeast of Lane.
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 Dec 14, 3:25 AM CST, 2 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Lincoln IL 325 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015 .SHORT TERM...(Today) ISSUED AT 325 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015 Strong low pressure, currently centered over eastern Iowa, will continue to impact central and southeast Illinois today. The cold front associated with the system currently extends southeast across northern Illinois, and has already cleared entire forecast area. Post frontal cold air advection is actually spreading across the region from the southwest, a somewhat unusual occurrence. The strong cold advection will prevent much of a temperature rise today, with temperatures expected to be steady or slowly falling for the most part. That being said, daytime highs will still be well above normal, in the lower 50s, for the middle of December. The winds bringing in this colder air are expected to remain quite gusty today, with gusts to 35 mph likely for much of the day. The more widespread/heavier rainfall associated with this storm system will be north/east of the forecast area to start the day. However, the upper low/cold pool driving the surface system is still centered near the KS/MO border area. The upper circulation is expected to lift into the Great Lakes by this evening, and scattered showers are expected until the circulation clears the Midwest. && .LONG TERM...(Tonight through Sunday) ISSUED AT 325 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015 Ending the precip this evening is the first issue for the forecast. Previous runs have been pretty persistent in drying out much of Central Illinois by late this afternoon. The 06Z NAM is the hold out, lingering some precip in the north and east as the system pulls away. Have kept the forecast dry after 00z for now, but will see if the NAM remains the outlier. Next issue for the forecast through the overnight is to watch the potential for fog development yet again. At this point, forecast has too many clouds for efficient radiational cooling, and the winds stay up a bit more as well. Weaker wind field just to the SW however. Crossover temps this afternoon will be key, but just not enough to go with a fog mention in the forecast just yet. Tonight and tomorrow mainly dry. Models bringing the second low through the region quickly for tomorrow night and Wednesday. Models are more consistent with the precip along the boundary now, so chance pops progress across the CWA through that time frame. Some cooler air moves into the region behind Wednesdays front, and Friday and Saturday are the coolest days in the forecast with highs only reaching into the 30s. Saturday night however, the winds pick back up out of the SW and another warm up starts to wrap up the weekend. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Monday night) ISSUED AT 1150 PM CST SUN DEC 13 2015 Deepening 990 mb surface low pressure over south central IA will track ne into central WI by 18Z/Mon, and pass ne of MI during Monday evening. Strong southeast winds of 17-24 kts with gusts of 25-35 kts currently just before midnight will shift SSW as a cold front in sw IL lifts northeast across central IL between 06Z-09Z. This front is already near SPI at 06Z and will reach I-74 in a couple hours. Another band of light to moderate rain showers will occur along and behind this front overnight with MVFR ceilings and visibilities expected. Ceilings could even drop to 1k ft or lower with some of the showers especially at PIA and BMI. Showers to become more scattered later tonight into Monday morning and then widely scattered by early Monday afternoon. Breezy SW winds of 15-20 kts with gusts of 25-30 kts expected during day Monday and will gradually veer WSW and subside to 12-16 kts with gusts of 17-22 kts during Monday evening. && .ILX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NONE. && SHORT TERM...BAK LONG TERM...HJS AVIATION...07
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 534 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015 ILZ027>031-036-037-040-041-047-049-050-151200- CASS-FULTON-KNOX-MARSHALL-MASON-MORGAN-PEORIA-SCHUYLER-SCOTT- STARK-TAZEWELL-WOODFORD- 534 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL PASS NORTH OF THE AREA TODAY. SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL GUST TO AROUND 40 MPH AT TIMES TODAY. THE ILLINOIS RIVER WILL BE NEAR OR ABOVE FLOOD STAGE FROM HAVANA TO BEARDSTOWN FOR MUCH OF THE WEEK. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ038-042>046-048-051>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-151200- CHAMPAIGN-CHRISTIAN-CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-DE WITT- DOUGLAS-EDGAR-EFFINGHAM-JASPER-LAWRENCE-LOGAN-MACON-MCLEAN-MENARD- MOULTRIE-PIATT-RICHLAND-SANGAMON-SHELBY-VERMILION- 534 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A STRONG AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL PASS NORTH OF THE AREA TODAY. SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL GUST TO AROUND 40 MPH AT TIMES TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. BAK
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
104 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015
ILZ029>031-037-038-043>046-055>057-062-063-067-068-140745-
CLARK-COLES-CUMBERLAND-VERMILION-CRAWFORD-WOODFORD-PEORIA-PIATT-
EDGAR-DE WITT-CHAMPAIGN-DOUGLAS-MARSHALL-JASPER-MCLEAN-TAZEWELL-
104 AM CST MON DEC 14 2015
...LINE OF SHOWERS PRODUCING STRONG WIND GUSTS...
AT 102 AM CST...A LINE OF SHOWERS WAS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM
NEAR SPRING BAY TO NEAR HEYWORTH TO 8 MILES EAST OF BEMENT TO
OBLONG...AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE SHOWERS.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
PEORIA...CHAMPAIGN...BLOOMINGTON...CHARLESTON...RANTOUL...PARIS...
ROBINSON...MONTICELLO...EUREKA...TUSCOLA...MARSHALL...LACON...
NORMAL...URBANA...EAST PEORIA...MORTON...WASHINGTON...SAVOY...MAHOMET
AND CHILLICOTHE.
LAT...LON 3931 8762 3925 8757 3908 8762 3891 8794
3992 8848 4081 8970 4110 8933 4110 8905
4093 8905 4092 8893 4075 8893 4075 8858
4062 8858 4061 8846 4040 8846 4040 8794
4044 8793 4033 8779 3986 8754 3936 8753
TIME...MOT...LOC 0702Z 229DEG 38KT 4080 8958 4031 8893 3996 8842 3902
8792
BAKThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Strong wind gusts of 70-80 mph associated with a line of showers severely damaged a pole barn and caused minor damage to a tractor and the roof of a house.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, December 2015
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: 609974.