A vigorous storm system approaching from the southern Plains spread accumulating snow across central Illinois from the evening of February 20th through the morning of February 21st. Within the larger area of snow, a narrow band of very heavy snow developed across west-central Illinois during the late evening of the 20th, then tracked east-northeastward along the I-72 corridor during the…
Every event with a place to put it; 17 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 vigorous storm system approaching from the southern Plains spread accumulating snow across central Illinois from the evening of February 20th through the morning of February 21st. Within the larger area of snow, a narrow band of very heavy snow developed across west-central Illinois during the late evening of the 20th, then tracked east-northeastward along the I-72 corridor during the overnight hours. 6 to 8 inches of snow fell in a swath from Morgan County northeastward to Champaign County, with even higher amounts of 10 to 12 inches being reported in a concentrated area across central Sangamon County, including 11.8 inches near the Springfield Airport.
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 Feb 20, 5:46 PM CST, 2 hours 14 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 546 PM CST Fri Feb 20 2015 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight) ISSUED AT 245 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 Storm system to affect area tonight into early Saturday afternoon bringing the threat for heavy snow, freezing rain and sleet and possibly some thunder far south. Models have trended a bit further north and stronger with the upper forcing/dynamics associated with a shortwave currently over northern Colorado. A surface low is expected to track south of the Ohio River late tonight into Saturday with models depicting a 60-70 kt low level jet coupled with strong moisture advection northeast into the Ohio Valley. In addition, strong upward vertical motion associated with a coupled jet will lead to some enhanced snow rates over parts of central through east central Illinois late this evening into early Saturday morning. Models indicating Most Unstable Capes of 250 J/KG over parts of northern Arkansas into south central Missouri later tonight with the hi-res ARW reflectivity solutions indicating some convective elements possible over parts of southern Illinois later tonight. The real concern will be as you head south towards Interstate 70 corridor where thermal profiles indicate precip will start out as snow and then change to some freezing rain and sleet into the early morning hours. A few of the models indicate surface temperatures to warm to or above freezing for a few hours changing the precip briefly to rain before going back to snow by late morning. Ice accumulations have been increased in this area but still are forecast to be just under a quarter of an inch. Certainly enough to create hazardous travel even though they won't receive the more significant snowfall. Winds later tonight into Saturday will not be much of a factor, so blowing and drifting snow will not be an issue with this storm system. In addition, as fast as the storm moves into our area tonight, it will be just as quick exiting central Illinois Saturday afternoon with the snow ending most areas by mid- afternoon, which will keep snow accumulations from getting out of hand. && .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Friday) ISSUED AT 245 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 Once the current storm system gets out of the way on Saturday, the remainder of the forecast period should be quiet but cold, with an Arctic airmass dominating the local weather more often than not. The upper-level flow through the period will be will continue to be dominated by strong ridging up the Pacific coast of North America, with troffing dominating the eastern 2/3 of the continent. Waves diving into the mean trof will produce occasional reinforcing shots of cold air, helping to keep our temperatures well below normal. The core of the Arctic high pressure behind Saturday's system will arrive Sunday night into Monday which should result in the coldest temperatures of the next week. Low temperatures below zero should be common Sunday night and again Monday night, with high temperatures struggling to reach 10 degrees on Monday. While wind speeds during this time period are not expected to be especially strong, wind chill values well below zero will likely result in a Wind Chill Advisory being required. A brief warm-up is expected heading into Tuesday as a clipper system passes well to our north. The currently expected track of the system should be too far north to produce a risk of snowfall over the forecast area. Another Arctic high will slowly push into the region for the second half of the week in the wake of the midweek clipper. While current indications suggest that the airmass associated with this high will not be as cold as the one to start the week, temperatures should still average at least 20 degrees below normal for late February. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Saturday evening) ISSUED AT 546 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 MVFR clouds have overspread all TAF sites and as snow begins to move into the area this evening, cigs will fall into the IFR ranges. Vis will drop as well and expecting 1sm to start at SPI/Dec/CMI, and 2sm at PIA and BMI. Heaviest snow is expected to begin around midnight, beginning at SPI and DEC first and then the other sites after that. PIA appears to be on the northern edge of the heavier snow, so have their vis and cigs a little higher than the others. This moderate to heavier snow will continue overnight and then end sometime in the morning. Then light snow will continue after that til around noon. Vis and cigs will improve during the lighter snow. Once the snow ends, not expecting much improvement in conditions as vis will still be reduced by some light fog and cigs will be below 1kft. So, looking at LIFR conditions during the heaviest snow overnight and then IFR at the beginning and as its ending. South winds will decrease quickly this evening and then become light and variable as the weather system move toward the area late tonight. Once the system moves by, light winds out of the northwest can be expected. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER STORM WARNING until 6 PM CST Saturday FOR ILZ042>057- 061>063-066>068-071>073. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY until 6 PM CST Saturday FOR ILZ036>038- 040-041. && SHORT TERM...Smith LONG TERM...Bak AVIATION...Auten
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 259 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 ILZ027>031-211200- KNOX-MARSHALL-PEORIA-STARK-WOODFORD- 259 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION THIS EVENING AND LINGER THROUGH THE NIGHT. UP TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED BY THE TIME THE SNOW TAPERS OFF ON SATURDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL TAPER OFF BY MIDDAY SATURDAY. BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES...20 BELOW ZERO OR COLDER...ARE ANTICIPATED LATER SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ036>038-040-041-211200- FULTON-MASON-MCLEAN-SCHUYLER-TAZEWELL- 259 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 PM CST SATURDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION THIS EVENING AND LINGER THROUGH THE NIGHT. TWO TO FOUR INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED BY THE TIME THE SNOW TAPERS OFF ON SATURDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL TAPER OFF BY MIDDAY SATURDAY. BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES...20 BELOW ZERO OR COLDER...ARE ANTICIPATED LATER SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ042>057-061-211200- CASS-CHAMPAIGN-CHRISTIAN-COLES-DE WITT-DOUGLAS-EDGAR-LOGAN-MACON- MENARD-MORGAN-MOULTRIE-PIATT-SANGAMON-SCOTT-SHELBY-VERMILION- 259 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 ...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 PM CST SATURDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION THIS EVENING AND LINGER THROUGH THE NIGHT. FOUR TO SEVEN INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED BY THE TIME THE SNOW TAPERS OFF ON SATURDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL TAPER OFF BY MIDDAY SATURDAY. BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES...15 BELOW ZERO OR COLDER...ARE ANTICIPATED LATER SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ062-063-066>068-071>073-211200- CLARK-CLAY-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-EFFINGHAM-JASPER-LAWRENCE-RICHLAND- 259 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2015 ...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 PM CST SATURDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SNOW AND SLEET WILL SPREAD INTO THE AREA THIS EVENING...MIXING WITH OR CHANGING TO FREEZING RAIN FOR A TIME OVERNIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES WITH FREEZING RAIN ACCUMULATIONS LESS THAN ONE QUARTER OF AN INCH ARE EXPECTED BEFORE THE MIXED PRECIPITATION TAPERS OFF ON SATURDAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THE SNOW AND SLEET WILL TAPER OFF SATURDAY AFTERNOON BEFORE ENDING. BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILL VALUES...10 BELOW ZERO OR COLDER...ARE ANTICIPATED LATER SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. BAK
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
9 heavy snow, 8 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Weather observers measured 6 to 8 inches of snow across Morgan County, including 7.0 inches in Jacksonville. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 5 to 7 inches of snow across Cass County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 4 to 6 inches of snow across Scott County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 9 inches of snow across Sangamon County, with a narrow corridor of 10 to 12 inches across the central part of the county. Snowfall totals included 11.8 inches in Springfield, 10.0 inches in Buffalo, and 9.5 inches in Riverton. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 9 inches of snow across Christian County, including 9.0 inches in Pana and 8.0 inches 4 miles southwest of Vanderville. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 9 inches of snow across Macon County, including 9.0 inches 2 miles west of Decatur and 8.0 inches in Mt. Zion. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 4 to 6 inches of snow across southern DeWitt County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 4 to 6 inches of snow across southern Logan County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 4 to 6 inches of snow across Menard County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 7 inches of snow across Moultrie County, including 6.5 inches in Sullivan. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 8 inches of snow across Piatt County, including 6.0 inches 3 miles northeast of Monticello. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 8 inches of snow across Shelby County, including 7.4 inches 1 mile north of Wolf Creek State Park and 7.0 inches in Shelbyville. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 8 inches of snow across Douglas County, including 8.2 inches in Tuscola and 5.5 inches in Newman. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 4 to 6 inches of snow across Coles County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 6 to 7 inches of snow across the southern half of Champaign County, including 7.0 inches 2 miles south of Champaign, 6.3 inches 1 mile north of Savoy, and 6.2 inches in Ogden. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 4 to 6 inches of snow across much of Edgar County, with isolated amounts of up to 8 inches across the northwest part of the county. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
Weather observers measured 4 to 6 inches of snow across Vermilion County. Numerous traffic accidents occurred due to snow-covered and hazardous roadways.
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, February 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: 560854, 560859, 560865, 560857, 560851, 560853, 560861, 560863, 560864, 560855, 560856, 560858, 560852, 560860, 560850, 560862, 560866.