A deepening area of low pressure tracking from Colorado into the western Great Lakes pulled a strong cold front into central Illinois during the evening of November 11th. Thanks to an unseasonably warm and moist airmass that had been pulled northward ahead of the system, a line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed along the front.
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 deepening area of low pressure tracking from Colorado into the western Great Lakes pulled a strong cold front into central Illinois during the evening of November 11th. Thanks to an unseasonably warm and moist airmass that had been pulled northward ahead of the system, a line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed along the front. Many of the storms produced 60-70mph wind gusts and localized wind damage, especially along and north of a Rushville to Bloomington line.
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 Nov 11, 6:12 PM CST, 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Lincoln IL 612 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight) ISSUED AT 259 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 Powerful November storm system is taking aim on central Illinois this evening, with 20z/2pm surface chart showing a 991mb low over southwest Iowa. Strong to severe thunderstorms are currently developing in the vicinity of the low and arcing southward along a trailing cold front into north-central Missouri. Further south...another area of showers/storms is developing in association with the warm conveyor belt across the Ozarks. As the low continues to deepen and lift toward western Wisconsin, the storms currently across northern Missouri will shift eastward into west-central Illinois early this evening. Based on radar timing tools and consistent forecasts from both the HRRR and 4km NAM, it appears convection will arrive in the Illinois River Valley between 6pm and 8pm, along the I-55 corridor between 7pm and 9pm, and further east to the I-57 corridor between 9pm and midnight. Damaging wind gusts will be the primary severe weather threat across the western KILX CWA early this evening, although an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out due to impressive amounts of low-level wind shear. As the storms race E/NE, the severe wind threat will decrease east of the I- 55 corridor by mid to late evening as the storms tend to weaken with time. Once the storms pass, very strong gradient winds will develop as low pressure continues to deepen over Wisconsin. Westerly winds will increase to between 20 and 30 mph overnight, with gusts reaching the 40 to 50 mph range. As a result, a Wind Advisory will remain in effect for all locations along/north of I-70. .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Wednesday) ISSUED AT 259 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 The intense storm system (987 mb) is expected to be over central thru northeast Wisconsin by Thursday morning with a very tight pressure gradient across a large portion of the region. Forecast soundings suggest the potential for 25 to 35 mph sustained winds with gusts around 50 mph at times into the afternoon hours before we see a very slow diminishing trend towards evening. With the surface low pulling away from the area rather quickly, the wrap-around moisture is expected to lift northeast as well and shift into far northern IL or southern Wisconsin by evening. A secondary upper trof will swing southeast across the lower Great Lakes Thursday night and Friday with gusty winds expected with that system as well, although not as strong as what we will see tonight and Thursday. The weather should quiet down for Friday night through the weekend as high pressure settles across the area. We should start out on the cool side early in the weekend but as the high shifts off to our east on Sunday, southerly winds will bring in milder air for Sunday afternoon. However, it doesn't look like the nice weather will hold very long over our area as an active southwest flow pattern continues into next week with the first of two significant systems that will affect the Midwest. Showers chances increase somewhat late Sunday night into Monday, and especially Monday night into Tuesday as the upper wave tracks across the region. Unfortunately, the upper wave and associated surface low will not be a quick mover and will have ample opportunity to bring up some significant rainfall to our area early next week with POPs in the forecast through Thursday. The pattern will hold thru the rest of the week with the latest ECMWF indicating another strong upper level system poised over the southwest U.S. ready to spread precip back into our area either late next week or during the weekend. && .AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Thursday evening) ISSUED AT 612 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 Line of convection continues to track northeastward out of Missouri into west-central Illinois early this evening. Southern end of line is not very organized and is showing signs of weakening, which matches the forecasts from both the HRRR and 4km NAM quite well. Given current radar trends, think the line of strong to severe storms may only impact KPIA and perhaps KBMI. Timing tools still support 01z to 03z at KPIA and 02z to 04z for KBMI. Further southeast, showers with a few embedded thunderstorms have lifted northward from southern Illinois and will impact KDEC and KCMI over the next few hours, but will remain sub-severe. Once a cold front that is currently across eastern Missouri sweeps through, strong westerly winds will develop later this evening through Thursday. Forecast soundings support gusts as high as 35 to 40kt at times through that time period before winds slowly begin to subside somewhat toward sunset Thursday. && .ILX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Wind Advisory until 6 PM CST Thursday for ILZ027>031-036>038- 040>057-061>063. && SHORT TERM...Barnes LONG TERM...Smith AVIATION...Barnes
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 333 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 ILZ027>031-036-037-040-041-047>050-121200- CASS-FULTON-KNOX-MARSHALL-MASON-MENARD-MORGAN-PEORIA-SCHUYLER- SCOTT-STARK-TAZEWELL-WOODFORD- 333 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 ...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THURSDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE AREA THIS EVENING...AS AN INTENSE STORM SYSTEM CROSSES THE MIDWEST. DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE PRIMARY CONCERN...ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED TORNADO IS POSSIBLE. ONCE THE STORMS PASS...WESTERLY WINDS WILL GUST FROM 40 TO 50 MPH FROM TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. THIS WILL CAUSE DIFFICULT TRAVEL FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL LINGER INTO THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING...MAINLY BETWEEN 6 PM AND 8 PM. ILZ038-042-043-051>053-121200- CHRISTIAN-DE WITT-LOGAN-MACON-MCLEAN-SANGAMON- 333 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 ...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THURSDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE AREA THIS EVENING...AS AN INTENSE STORM SYSTEM CROSSES THE MIDWEST. DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE PRIMARY CONCERN. ONCE THE STORMS PASS...WESTERLY WINDS WILL GUST FROM 40 TO 50 MPH FROM TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. THIS WILL CAUSE DIFFICULT TRAVEL FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL LINGER INTO THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING...MAINLY BETWEEN 7 PM AND 9 PM. ILZ044>046-054>057-061>063-121200- CHAMPAIGN-CLARK-COLES-CUMBERLAND-DOUGLAS-EDGAR-MOULTRIE-PIATT- SHELBY-VERMILION- 333 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 ...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THURSDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE AREA THIS EVENING...AS AN INTENSE STORM SYSTEM CROSSES THE MIDWEST. THE GREATEST CHANCE FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER WILL REMAIN FURTHER WEST...MAINLY WEST OF THE I-57 CORRIDOR. HOWEVER...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE WITH A FEW OF THE STORMS AS THEY PUSH INTO EAST- CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS BY MID TO LATE EVENING. ONCE THE STORMS PASS...WESTERLY WINDS WILL GUST FROM 40 TO 50 MPH FROM TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. THIS WILL CAUSE DIFFICULT TRAVEL FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL LINGER INTO THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING...MAINLY BETWEEN 9 PM AND MIDNIGHT. ILZ066>068-071>073-121200- CLAY-CRAWFORD-EFFINGHAM-JASPER-LAWRENCE-RICHLAND- 333 PM CST WED NOV 11 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE AREA THIS EVENING...AS AN INTENSE STORM SYSTEM CROSSES THE MIDWEST. THE GREATEST CHANCE FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER WILL REMAIN FURTHER WEST...MAINLY WEST OF THE I-57 CORRIDOR. HOWEVER...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL STILL BE POSSIBLE WITH A FEW OF THE STORMS AS THEY PUSH INTO EAST-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS BY MID TO LATE EVENING. ONCE THE STORMS PASS...WESTERLY WINDS WILL GUST FROM 30 TO 40 MPH FROM TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY. THIS WILL CAUSE DIFFICULT TRAVEL FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY STRONG WESTERLY WINDS WILL LINGER INTO THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING...MAINLY BETWEEN 9 PM AND MIDNIGHT. BARNES
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:31 UTC.
18 thunderstorm wind, 1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous trees were blown down across Galesburg.
A portion of a church roof was blown off.
A semi was blown over on I-74 at mile marker 49.
A barn was blown down about 2 miles south of Gilson.
A large tree limb was blown down.
A tree was snapped in Morton.
A large tree branch was blown down onto a house causing minor roof damage.
Several large tree branches were blown down and blocked Fenley Avenue in Pekin.
A tree was blown down at the intersection of Texas Road and Bartholomew west of Peoria.
The gutters were blown off the south side of a house.
A 2-foot diameter tree was blown down in Bartonville. Power outages were reported.
Two 6 to 8-inch diameter trees were blown down.
Two power poles were blown down.
A two-foot diameter tree was blown down.
Several power lines were blown down in El Paso.
Several power lines were blown down in Minonk.
Two power poles and numerous tree branches were blown down in Decatur.
A tree was blown down onto a road in Stanford.
A semi was blown over on I-74 at mile marker 125.
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, November 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: 608344, 608345, 608346, 608347, 608348, 608351, 608370, 608371, 608354, 608355, 608357, 608358, 608360, 608361, 608362, 608364, 608368, 608365, 608366.