A warm front triggered widespread showers and thunderstorms across central Illinois during the early morning of June 22nd. A few of the storms produced damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 mph across portions of Fulton, Mason, Menard, and Sangamon counties.
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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 triggered widespread showers and thunderstorms across central Illinois during the early morning of June 22nd. A few of the storms produced damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 mph across portions of Fulton, Mason, Menard, and Sangamon counties.
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 Jun 22, 2:41 AM CST, 52 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lincoln IL 341 AM CDT WED JUN 22 2016 .SHORT TERM...(Today) ISSUED AT 341 AM CDT Wed Jun 22 2016 An axis of elevated instability extending into central IL from NW to SE out of Iowa will be the focus for heavy rainfall this morning. A 30-40kt low level jet will continue pushing high PW air up and over a stationary boundary situated farther south from Springfield to Mattoon. A flash flood watch seemed reasonable for the late night and early morning portion of today's storm chances, for our northern tier of counties. There are indications in the RAP that our line of storms will shift north into northern IL by late morning. HRRR output shows a secondary line of storms in the late morning and early afternoon period moving across the I-74 corridor. There is potential for some severe hail early this morning for our NW counties. Freezing levels at 14K feet require vigorous updrafts to create severe hail, but some isolated cells could keep that intensity as they push into Knox county through 6 am. Will monitor for possible warnings. As for the weather grids, will hit storms and heavy rain hard through mid morning, then will diminish storm chances from south to north into the afternoon, as the warm front redevelops across northern IL. The highest severe storm potential will reside north of I-74 as the next round of storms hit Illinois mainly this evening. Another concern today will be heat indices creeping above 100F southwest of a line from Canton to Lawrenceville. There should be ample sunshine in that area for high temps to climb into the low to mid 90s. When combined with dewpoints in the low 70s, heat index readings this afternoon will reach between 98 and 101F. Our heat advisory criteria is 105-114F, so have held off on issuing a headline for that today. Will cover the heat in the hazardous weather outlook and other social media to heighten awareness. && .LONG TERM...(Tonight through Tuesday) ISSUED AT 341 AM CDT Wed Jun 22 2016 The trend of the models in the shorter term have been to push the warm front further to the north tonight...so the low tracks further from ILX. Keeping the higher pops north of I-74 corridor before midnight tonight...with diminishing activity in the early morning hours. MaxT has quite the gradient across Central Illinois, with cooler temps in the north with more persistent cloudy skies. Concerned that the models are not handling the cloud cover well overall, there is a lot of room for error with warm air already in place over the region. Mid to upper 80s on Friday, quiet weather briefly for the end of the week before the next system starts to make its way into the Midwest with a low moving across the Great Lakes, dragging a boundary. Surface depiction is weak so far in the models...trying to create qpf under an expansive ridge. Boundary layer RH from prev activity will be getting tempered on Thursday and Friday with mixing, and a lot will be driven by mesoscale. Not a high confidence forecast for the weekend pops. Scattered shower and thunderstorm activity both Sat and Sun, with enough breaking up in the clouds to warm up the lower 90s. Far enough out in the forecast that the pops will remain low for now. Heat returns for the weekend again as WAA stays in place with southerly and westerly flow out of the ridging in the west. Early next week in the model blends is warm with diffuse lingering low pops. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Wednesday night) Issued at 1149 PM CDT Tue Jun 21 2016 Showers/storms should continue to gradually shift across the central Illinois terminal area overnight, with the precipitation lingering into Wednesday morning. Predominantly VFR conditions are anticipated, but some lower conditions are likely if a heavier thunderstorm impacts a local terminal. A break in the rainfall should occur by midday Wednesday, lingering into early afternoon. Additional storm redevelopment is likely, but significant uncertainties with respect to coverage and location preclude carrying more than a VCTS or VCSH mention at this time. && .ILX Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Flash Flood Watch until 10 AM CDT this morning for ILZ027>031- 037-038. && SHORT TERM...Shimon LONG TERM...HJS AVIATION...Bak
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 337 PM CDT TUE JUN 21 2016 ILZ027>031-036>038-221100- FULTON-KNOX-MARSHALL-MCLEAN-PEORIA-STARK-TAZEWELL-WOODFORD- 337 PM CDT TUE JUN 21 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF AN ADVANCING WARM FRONT TONIGHT. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE LATE TONIGHT...MAINLY ALONG AND NORTHWEST OF CANTON TO BLOOMINGTON LINE. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BE ONGOING DURING THE MORNING HOURS...WITH GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL POSSIBLE. AFTER THIS INITIAL ROUND OF CONVECTION...ADDITIONAL STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP BY LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES. EXACTLY WHERE THESE STORMS WILL FIRE REMAINS IN QUESTION...BUT CURRENT INDICATIONS SUGGEST IT WILL BE NORTH OF THE I-74 CORRIDOR. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATE TONIGHT...MAINLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. ILZ043>046-055-057-221100- CHAMPAIGN-DE WITT-DOUGLAS-EDGAR-PIATT-VERMILION- 337 PM CDT TUE JUN 21 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS AND EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF AN ADVANCING WARM FRONT TONIGHT. WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED...HOWEVER SOME OF THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BE ONGOING DURING THE MORNING HOURS...WITH GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL POSSIBLE. AFTER THIS INITIAL ROUND OF CONVECTION...ADDITIONAL STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP BY LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THESE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 70 MPH...LARGE HAIL...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES. EXACTLY WHERE THESE STORMS WILL FIRE REMAINS IN QUESTION...BUT CURRENT INDICATIONS SUGGEST IT WILL BE NORTH OF THE I-74 CORRIDOR. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. ILZ040>042-047>054-056-061>063-066>068-071>073-221100- CASS-CHRISTIAN-CLARK-CLAY-COLES-CRAWFORD-CUMBERLAND-EFFINGHAM- JASPER-LAWRENCE-LOGAN-MACON-MASON-MENARD-MORGAN-MOULTRIE-RICHLAND- SANGAMON-SCHUYLER-SCOTT-SHELBY- 337 PM CDT TUE JUN 21 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS...EAST CENTRAL ILLINOIS...SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS... SOUTHEAST ILLINOIS AND WEST CENTRAL ILLINOIS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AHEAD OF AN ADVANCING WARM FRONT TONIGHT. WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED...HOWEVER SOME OF THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BE ONGOING DURING THE MORNING HOURS...WITH GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL POSSIBLE. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY RE-DEVELOP LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME OF THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LARGE HAIL...HOWEVER THE MAIN FOCUS FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE FURTHER NORTH...MAINLY NORTH OF THE I-74 CORRIDOR. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH TONIGHT. BARNES
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
426 AM CDT WED JUN 22 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0415 AM HEAVY RAIN KNOXVILLE 40.91N 90.29W
06/22/2016 M2.70 INCH KNOX IL TRAINED SPOTTER
HEAVY RAIN STILL FALLING
&&
25The Lincoln radar (KILX), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:33 UTC.
9 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was blown onto IL-95 near Smithfield.
Several trees and large tree branches blown down in Lewistown.
Several tree limbs and power lines were blown down in Havana.
Five power poles were snapped off west of IL-97 on 1550E near the power station.
Four power poles were snapped off and four irrigation legs were flipped at 2900E and 850N about 5 miles west of Mason City. Several 18-inch diameter trees were snapped off at 2800E just north of 850N.
Numerous power lines were blown down in Easton.
Numerous trees and tree branches were blown down in Greenview. One power pole was snapped.
Nine trees were blown down just west of Williamsville.
Numerous large tree branches were blown down.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, June 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: 637364, 637376, 637365, 637373, 637370, 637375, 637366, 637368, 637367.