Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, July 19, 2018

Name: Hail and Damaging Winds in Illinois, July 19, 2018
Start: 2018-07-19T18:18
End: 2018-07-19T18:58
Location: Illinois

July 19, 2018 · NWS DVN · 5 events in 2 counties and zones

A vigorous cold front produced an area of thunderstorms with isolated reports of large hail up to the size of quarters and damaging winds of 60 to 70 mph.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS DVN wrote it up.

A vigorous cold front produced an area of thunderstorms with isolated reports of large hail up to the size of quarters and damaging winds of 60 to 70 mph.

What forecasters said that day

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 Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 19, 5:33 PM CST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 19, 5:33 PM CST, 45 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL
633 PM CDT Thu Jul 19 2018

...AVIATION UPDATE...

.SYNOPSIS...
Issued at 211 PM CDT Thu Jul 19 2018

The elevated showers and thunderstorms have now pushed east towards
northeast Illinois, with increasing temperatures, increasing
dewpoints, and increasing southeast winds behind them. It appears
that we will have sufficient CAPE and convergence for another round
of storms over the area this afternoon and evening. Shear will be
conducive for rotating updrafts, and bowing line segments.

&&

.SHORT TERM...(This Evening through Friday)
ISSUED AT 211 PM CDT Thu Jul 19 2018

The evening storms should initially be lined up along the cold
front, though some additional overnight activity may be in narrow
bands of showers and storms.  Rainfall over 1 inch will certainly be
possible in any storm tonight, and any repeat storms certainly could
bring 2 inches. Amount similar to that already fell this morning.
Shear supports rotating storms with 20 to 25 kts of surface to 1 Km
shear, and 40 kts of deep layer shear. Thus, supercells are likely,
with bowing line segments in mature linear convection as well.
This event will likely come in two bands. The first seems to
already forming in out northwest, the other near I-35 as of 2 PM.
More an more, I believe that the first of these waves will be the
main evening event. We will watch this, and begin issuing products
specifically above this line soon.

Overnight, the activity should become less intense, though some
small hail will be possible as the cooler air aloft arrives
overnight when the upper low nears the area. That upper low should
at least support showers and a few brief storms through the day
Friday, mainly in the northeast.

Temperatures are a struggle, as we have hot air to the southwest,
and warmer air to the east, and rain cooled air in place, which is
slowly warming.  We'll stay close to models on lows and highs, and
go with mid to upper 60s tonight, followed by mid 70s north to lower
80s south Friday.

.LONG TERM...(Friday Night through Thursday)
ISSUED AT 211 PM CDT Thu Jul 19 2018

Little change to the long term forecast as a slow moving vertically
stacked system will lumber east.  With cold air aloft over the area,
daytime heating could lead to showers and isolated thunderstorms,
especially across eastern areas.  This will continue until the low
finally moves east of the area.  Overall the pattern is such that
cooler and drier air is expected this weekend across most of the
area.  Sunday, the chance for isolated showers and storms will be
across Bureau and Putnam counties, otherwise the rest of the area
should be quiet.

Into next week, the current forecast has dewpoints returning to the
60s, but no 70 degree dewpoints.  While the air will become more
moist, from a sensible weather point of view it should be typical
summer with slighly drier air with temps in the 80s and lows in the
60s at night.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 00Z TAFS through 00Z Friday Evening)
ISSUED AT 630 PM CDT Thu Jul 19 2018

Isolated storms to end by 20/03Z with partly cloudy skies, VFR conditions
and gusty NW winds through the next 24 hours as storm system moves to
the east. Any cloud bases later tonight and Friday will be 3-5K AGL.

&&

.DVN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IA...NONE.
IL...NONE.
MO...NONE.

&&

SYNOPSIS...Ervin
SHORT TERM...Ervin
LONG TERM...Gibbs
AVIATION...16

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 19, 3:11 AM CST, 15 hours 7 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Quad Cities IA IL
411 AM CDT Thu Jul 19 2018

IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-007-
009-015>018-024>026-034-035-MOZ009-010-200915-
Buchanan-Delaware-Dubuque-Benton-Linn-Jones-Jackson-Iowa-Johnson-
Cedar-Clinton-Muscatine-Scott-Keokuk-Washington-Louisa-Jefferson-
Henry IA-Des Moines-Van Buren-Lee-Jo Daviess-Stephenson-Carroll-
Whiteside-Rock Island-Henry IL-Bureau-Putnam-Mercer-Henderson-
Warren-Hancock-McDonough-Scotland-Clark-
411 AM CDT Thu Jul 19 2018

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of north central
Illinois...northwest Illinois...west central Illinois...east
central Iowa...northeast Iowa...southeast Iowa and northeast
Missouri.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

Slow moving thunderstorms with heavy rainfall may lead to minor
flooding over portions of east central Iowa this morning.
Scattered thunderstorms will affect much of the outlook area
through the day with locally heavy rainfall and cloud to ground
lightning the primary threats.

Severe storms will be possible from late afternoon through this
evening. The Storm Prediction Center has a Slight Risk west of a
line from Independence through Muscatine, Iowa to Macomb,
Illinois. A Marginal Risk is in place for the remainder of the
outlook area. The main severe risk threats will be damaging wind
and large hail. An isolated tornado is possible.

Widespread rain and thunderstorms are expected to continue
overnight over east central Iowa into northwest Illinois. Severe
weather is not expected, but there will continue to be a threat of
locally heavy rainfall.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

Thunderstorms are expected again Friday. Severe weather is not
expected.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation may be needed this afternoon and this evening.

Sheets

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 19, 5:56 PM CST, 22 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
656 PM CDT THU JUL 19 2018

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0650 PM     TSTM WND GST     5 N KAHOKA              40.50N 91.72W
07/19/2018  E60 MPH          CLARK              MO   LAW ENFORCEMENT

&&

SK

Local storm report, Jul 19, 5:58 PM CST, 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
658 PM CDT THU JUL 19 2018

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0658 PM     HAIL             MEMPHIS                 40.46N 92.17W
07/19/2018  M0.88 INCH       SCOTLAND           MO   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

PS

Local storm report, Jul 19, 5:59 PM CST, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
659 PM CDT THU JUL 19 2018

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0656 PM     HAIL             3 WNW MOUNT STERLING    40.64N 91.98W
07/19/2018  E0.25 INCH       VAN BUREN          IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

            PEA HAIL AND WINDS GUSTING TO 40 MPH WITH
            HEAVY RAIN OCCURRING RIGHT NOW.

&&

Local storm report, Jul 19, 6:09 PM CST, 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
709 PM CDT THU JUL 19 2018

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0654 PM     HAIL             ARGYLE                  40.53N 91.57W
07/19/2018  E0.88 INCH       LEE                IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

            NICKEL HAIL. NOT SURE IF IT WAS LARGER OR
            NOT.

&&

Local storm report, Jul 19, 6:13 PM CST, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
713 PM CDT THU JUL 19 2018

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0712 PM     HEAVY RAIN       JESUP                   42.48N 92.07W
07/19/2018  M1.72 INCH       BUCHANAN           IA   TRAINED SPOTTER

            STORM TOTAL.

&&

Local storm report, Jul 19, 6:18 PM CST, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
718 PM CDT THU JUL 19 2018

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0717 PM     HAIL             SOUTH GORIN             40.36N 92.02W
07/19/2018  M1.00 INCH       SCOTLAND           MO   FIRE DEPT/RESCUE

            QUARTER SIZE HAIL FALLING AT THE GORIN FIRE
            DEPARTMENT.

&&

PS

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 156 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:18 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Hancock

When: July 19, 6:18 PM CST
Where: Hancock County, 0.69 mi N of Warsaw
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 40.360, -91.430

Time of the event was estimated using radar.

Thunderstorm Wind, Hancock

When: July 19, 6:18 PM CST
Where: Hancock County, 0.69 mi N of Warsaw
Measured: 60 kt (69 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: Broadcast Media
Coordinates: 40.360, -91.430

Broadcast media relayed a report of numerous trees down in town.

Hail, Carroll

When: July 19, 6:30 PM CST
Where: Carroll County, Mt Carroll
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 42.100, -89.980

Thunderstorm Wind, Carroll

When: July 19, 6:40 PM CST
Where: Carroll County, 0.69 mi N of Lanark
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) estimated gust
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 42.110, -89.830

Time of the event was estimated using radar.

Thunderstorm Wind, Carroll

When: July 19, 6:58 PM CST
Where: Carroll County, 0.51 mi W of Shannon
Measured: 52 kt (60 mph) measured gust
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 42.150, -89.740

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 2018 Every state in 2018 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, July 2018

Sources

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: 774332, 774335, 774333, 774336, 774337.