A wave of low pressure tracking along a nearly stationary frontal boundary triggered several clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms across central Illinois during the afternoon and early evening of June 19th. Two weak tornadoes briefly touched down producing minor damage; one in northeast Christian County and one in central Moultrie County.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 wave of low pressure tracking along a nearly stationary frontal boundary triggered several clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms across central Illinois during the afternoon and early evening of June 19th. Two weak tornadoes briefly touched down producing minor damage; one in northeast Christian County and one in central Moultrie County. Other thunderstorm cells produced strong wind gusts and minor damage in Robinson in Crawford County. In addition, excessive rainfall rates caused localized flash flooding along a creek on the northeast side of Bethany in Moultrie County. Dive teams rescued 4 people and a dog from a car that had been swept off a road by the rapidly rising water.
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 19, 2:10 PM CST, 3 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lincoln IL 310 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Thursday) ISSUED AT 309 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 The short term will be dominated by a shortwave that has the potential to produce locally heavy rainfall and flash flooding. The instability parameters are marginal at best, with the MLCAPE of 1500 J/kg and weak shear not able to support much in the way of severe wind/hail. However, the Non-Supercell Tornado (NST) parameter on SPC's website is showing increased potential for a few quick spin-up tornadoes under some of the stronger updrafts. So far, only a couple of funnels have been reported. Circulations are being monitored, and the trends are for a quick intensification and then weakening. That is supported by the lower CAPE values present. The Severe Thunderstorm Watch just south of our area has better instability and is also in the path of stronger 500mb speed max, increasing shear in that area. The main push of rain and storms for areas south of I-74 looks to continue through around 03z/10pm, then advances into Indiana. The northern counties look to remain under the influence of the 500mb shortwave through around 09z/4am, before the steadier rains shift east into northern Indiana. Precipitable water values of 1.5 to 2" will support very efficient rainfall production from any stronger storm cells. Therefore, the FF Watch was expanded northward to include the counties of Peoria, Woodford, Tazewell and McLean earlier this afternoon. The watch ending was kept at 18z tomorrow, but most areas should be able to be cancelled early, if current model solutions are correct about a dry Thursday morning. && .LONG TERM...(Thursday night through Wednesday) ISSUED AT 309 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 The extended forecast will be dominated by rain chances through Sunday night, as the forecast area remains under the influence of the back side of an upper level trough. The area will experiencing a warming trend and increasing humidity, as the upper ridge inches into Illinois from the west. However, the storm track will remain active on the leading edge of that ridge, guiding several waves of energy across central Illinois from Friday afternoon through Monday night. The target periods for more widespread rain/storms looks to be Friday night, Saturday night-Sunday, and in eastern Illinois on Monday. While the models have generally overdone the coverage of 2+" rainfall areas that far out, we are seeing more potential for widespread 2" rainfall amounts across all of our forecast area during the Fri night-Monday time frame. Increasing heat and humidity will be noticeable on Saturday and Sunday, when heat indices climb into the mid to upper 90s in some locations. Those numbers are highly dependent on if any extended periods of sunshine can develop. In any case, dewpoints in the 70 to 75 deg range will be well above anything we have seen in quite a while. A break in the rain chances looks to develop for Wednesday, as a progressive trough shifts east of Illinois and upper level ridging becomes established farther north into Illinois. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Thursday afternoon) Issued at 1224 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 An MCV lifting across central Illinois this afternoon is triggering a line of showers/storms from NW to SE. The line has embedded periods of heavy rain, which has been reducing visibility to 3/4SM in heavy rain at times. Ceilings have briefly dipped to MVFR during any storms to this point, and that potential will increase with the next wave of rain and storms for later this afternoon into evening. An extended period of rain/storm potential will be present through this evening, as an upper level wave progresses from west to east across Illinois. Storm chances will diminish by mid to late evening, with lingering rain showers and lowering ceilings forecast by the CAMs. A solid MVFR cloud deck is projected to start out the day on Thursday, as winds turn northwest. Winds this afternoon will have most areas seeing east to southeast flow. As the low pushes across IL, winds will back to the northeast, but sustain below 10kt in general during that time. As the storm and rain chances subside later tonight into Thursday, winds will become N to NW with time. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flash Flood Watch through Thursday afternoon for ILZ029-031- 036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073. && SHORT TERM...Shimon LONG TERM...Shimon AVIATION...Shimon
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lincoln IL 306 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 ILZ027-028-030-201100- Knox-Marshall-Stark- 306 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central Illinois and west central Illinois. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... Showers and thunderstorms will continue through tonight. Severe weather is not expected. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... Several rounds of thunderstorms will occur Friday through Monday. There is a risk for severe weather Friday night: however, it is still too early to determine any potential risks over the weekend. Heavy rainfall will be likely through the period...with early indications suggesting storm total rainfall of 1.5 to 2.5 inches Friday night through Monday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed through tonight. ILZ029-031-036>038-040>057-061-201100- Cass-Champaign-Christian-Coles-De Witt-Douglas-Edgar-Fulton-Logan- Macon-Mason-McLean-Menard-Morgan-Moultrie-Peoria-Piatt-Sangamon- Schuyler-Scott-Shelby-Tazewell-Vermilion-Woodford- 306 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON... This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central Illinois, east central Illinois and west central Illinois. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... Showers and thunderstorms will continue through tonight. Severe weather is not expected: however, a few thunderstorms with excessive rainfall rates could produce localized flash flooding. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... Several rounds of thunderstorms will occur Friday through Monday. There is a risk for severe weather Friday night: however, it is still too early to determine any potential risks over the weekend. Heavy rainfall will be likely through the period...with early indications suggesting storm total rainfall of 1.5 to 2.5 inches Friday night through Monday. Moderate flooding will continue along the Illinois River from Havana downstream through at least early next week. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will not be needed through tonight. ILZ062-063-066>068-071>073-201100- Clark-Clay-Crawford-Cumberland-Effingham-Jasper-Lawrence-Richland- 306 PM CDT Wed Jun 19 2019 ...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON... This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of east central Illinois and southeast Illinois. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... Showers and thunderstorms will continue through tonight. Some of the storms could become severe with damaging wind gusts and large hail through early this evening. Localized flash flooding will be possible as well. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... Several rounds of thunderstorms will occur Friday through Monday. There is a risk for severe weather Friday night: however, it is still too early to determine any potential risks over the weekend. Heavy rainfall will be likely through the period...with early indications suggesting storm total rainfall of 1.5 to 2.5 inches Friday night through Monday. Minor flooding will continue along portions of the Wabash, Little Wabash, and Embarras Rivers for several days. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be needed through early this evening. Barnes
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
301 PM CDT WED JUN 19 2019
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0259 PM FLASH FLOOD MORTON 40.61N 89.47W
06/19/2019 TAZEWELL IL TRAINED SPOTTER
STREET FLOODING WITH 6 TO 8 INCHES OF MOVING WATER DUE TO
HEAVY RAINS IN THE AREA.
&&
JRPPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
311 PM CDT WED JUN 19 2019
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0306 PM FLASH FLOOD PEKIN 40.57N 89.63W
06/19/2019 TAZEWELL IL PUBLIC
MANHOLE COVERS BLOWN OFF, WATER FLOWING 1000-2000 GAL/MIN
AT N 2ND ST
&&
VWILSONThe Evansville,IN radar (KVWX), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:14 UTC.
2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Numerous trees and power poles were blown down in Robinson. The doors and a couple windows of the courthouse were blown out. Damage occurred to the Bradford Supply building.
A tornado briefly touched down about 2 miles west of Moweaqua. It damaged crops before dissipating in less than one minute.
A tornado briefly touched down in an open field about 2.3 miles east of Bethany at 7:22PM CDT. Crops sustained minor damage before the tornado dissipated.
Slow moving thunderstorms with excessive rainfall rates resulted in flash flooding in the northeast part of Bethany during the afternoon of June 19th. Flash flooding affected a small creek north of Bethany which inundated the northeast part of town, including a portion of State Highway 121. A car was submerged up to the hood and pushed off of the road. First responders rescued four people and a dog. No injuries were reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Illinois in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Illinois, 2019Warnings in Illinois, June 2019
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: 837206, 839408, 837211, 839761.