A warm front lifting northward into central Illinois triggered scattered severe thunderstorms from the late afternoon of April 27th into the early morning of April 28th. Low-level wind shear was strong enough in the vicinity of the front to cause several of the storm cells to rotate.
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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 warm front lifting northward into central Illinois triggered scattered severe thunderstorms from the late afternoon of April 27th into the early morning of April 28th. Low-level wind shear was strong enough in the vicinity of the front to cause several of the storm cells to rotate. Two brief tornado touchdowns occurred, one southwest of Altamont in Effingham County and the other north of Olney in Richland County. No damage was reported. Elsewhere around the area, isolated wind damage and hail as large as quarters was reported in a few spots.
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 Apr 27, 2:14 PM CST, 3 hours 44 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lincoln IL 314 PM CDT WED APR 27 2016 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight) ISSUED AT 312 PM CDT Wed Apr 27 2016 Mid afternoon surface map shows 996 mb low pressure over east central Nebraska with a warm front extending through northern MO and arching down along the MO/IL border into southern IL/KY south of I- 64. A 546 dm 500 mb low was over eastern Nebraska so system is nearly vertically stacked and starting to weaken. Low clouds continue to blanket central/southeast IL while these clouds are breaking up over warm sector of MO from Kirksville and St Louis sw. One band of showers was lifting northeast of Danville while another band of showers was from I-72 north and ne of a Canton to Springfield line and lifting northeast. Thunderstorms have been very isolated so far today due to weak instability with widespread low clouds/lack of heating. Highest MUCapes in our CWA is currently 500- 900 J/kg over Clay, Richland and Lawrence counties at mid afternoon. Temperatures currently range from lower 50s north of Peoria to mid to upper 60s in southeast IL in southern 6 counties. Models continue to weaken low pressure northeast into central IA by Thu morning while bringing warm front into central IL overnight. Will see more develop of showers and thunderstorms late this afternoon and evening and then diminishing overnight. SPC continues slight risk of severe storms (15% risk of large hail and damaging winds)late this afternoon and into mid evening sw of a Macomb to Lincoln to Terre Haute line where MUCapes should peak at 1-2k J/kg and the 2k J/kg are near Scott county where there is 5% risk of tornadoes. Lows overnight to range from lower 50s northern CWA, mid 50s central section and upper 50s in southeast IL. && .LONG TERM...(Thursday through Wednesday) ISSUED AT 312 PM CDT Wed Apr 27 2016 The upper level low currently centered over SE NB this afternoon will lift ENE into the upper Midwest for Thursday, weakening as a mean ridge builds into the eastern half of the U.S. A dry slot will be working its way into the southern half of Illinois early in the morning with a cold frontal boundary pushing east to near the Ohio River and an occluded front draped back to the northwest across central IL. Models indicating primarily dry conditions south of the occluded boundary and west of the cold front through much of the southern half of the central IL forecast area. To the north...could see some lingering showers through the early evening as a series of upper level impulses swing through. Dry and cool weather is on track for Thursday night through Friday as a short wave high pressure ridge crosses the area. Rain chances will spread northward again Friday night as a low approaches from the southern Plains. This low looks to pass by to the south which will limit the instability over central IL, especially the northern portions, but there should at least be a few thunderstorms possible throughout the area Saturday afternoon to evening...and a longer duration south of I-72. This system looks to push eastward with precip ending by Monday. Dry weather will likely follow for the first half of the week as cool dry high pressure moves down from the north. Still some uncertainty with disturbances moving out of the Southwest toward midweek, but latest models indicate those will likely remain south of central IL. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday afternoon) Issued at 1255 PM CDT Wed Apr 27 2016 A fairly large band of showers and a few thunderstorms over central IL early this afternoon will gradually lift ne and become more widely scattered from sw to ne during mid/late afternoon. More isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms will likely develop behind this band during late afternoon and into the evening as a warm front pushes ne into sw IL. Strong 995 mb surface low pressure over eastern Nebraska will weaken to 1006 mb as it moves into southern IA Thu morning. This will push a warm front from northeast MO and far SW IL into central IL by Thu morning as it occludes. IFR to MVFR ceilings to prevail through next 24 hours with IFR to MVFR vsbys prevailing as well, though will be up to VFR at times. Models show a dry slot working ne into central IL Thu morning especially by SPI and DEC where ceilings could lift up to VFR or even scatter out. Breezy east winds around 15 kts with gusts 18-24 kts this afternoon to diminish to around 10 kts by overnight and veer more west along I-74 while staying ENE at PIA and BMI. && .ILX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... NONE. && SHORT TERM...07 LONG TERM...Onton AVIATION...07
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 333 PM CDT WED APR 27 2016 ILZ027>031-037-038-281100- KNOX-MARSHALL-MCLEAN-PEORIA-STARK-TAZEWELL-WOODFORD- 333 PM CDT WED APR 27 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT AS A WARM FRONT MOVES INTO CENTRAL ILLINOIS TONIGHT. A FEW OF THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING SMALL HAIL ALONG WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS FROM SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE RISK OF SEVERE STORMS APPEARS LOW THIS WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ036-040>044-047>053-281100- CASS-CHRISTIAN-DE WITT-FULTON-LOGAN-MACON-MASON-MENARD-MORGAN- PIATT-SANGAMON-SCHUYLER-SCOTT- 333 PM CDT WED APR 27 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED INTO THIS EVENING AS A WARM FRONT MOVES INTO CENTRAL ILLINOIS TONIGHT. A FEW OF THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LARGE HAIL THROUGH MID EVENING. IN ADDITION...SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS FROM FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE RISK OF SEVERE STORMS APPEARS LOW THIS WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THROUGH 9 PM THIS EVENING. ILZ045-046-055-057-281100- CHAMPAIGN-DOUGLAS-EDGAR-VERMILION- 333 PM CDT WED APR 27 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED INTO TONIGHT AS A WARM FRONT APPROACHES EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. A FEW OF THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING SMALL HAIL ALONG WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS FROM SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS APPEARS LOW THIS WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ054-056-061>063-066>068-071>073-281100- CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-EFFINGHAM-JASPER-LAWRENCE- MOULTRIE-RICHLAND-SHELBY- 333 PM CDT WED APR 27 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THIS EVENING AS A WARM FRONT MOVES INTO SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS TONIGHT. A FEW OF THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LARGE HAIL THROUGH MID EVENING. IN ADDITION...SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS FROM FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT. THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS APPEARS LOW FOR THIS WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THROUGH 9 PM THIS EVENING. 07
The Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:58 UTC.
6 hail, 2 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tornado briefly touched down in an open field about 3.2 miles south-southwest of Altamont at 6:58 PM CDT. No damage occurred.
A power pole was blown down and a semi truck was knocked over on I-70.
A tornado briefly touched down in an open field about 1.7 miles north of Olney at 7:47 PM CDT. No damage occurred.
A gas station awning was blown down and damaged two cars.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 2016Warnings in Illinois, April 2016
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: 626283, 626292, 626285, 626284, 626293, 626286, 626288, 626290, 626291, 626295.