Hail, Peoria
- When
- May 7, 2:10 PM CST to 2:15 PM CST
- Where
- Peoria County, 1.25 mi WSW of Peoria Hgts
- Measured
- 0.88 in hail
- Reported by
- Broadcast Media
- Coordinates
- 40.720, -89.590
Hail in Illinois, May 7, 2026
An outflow boundary from earlier convection resulted in an isolated thunderstorm developing near Peoria during the afternoon of May 7th. Instability was relatively weak, but the storm briefly strengthened and produced one report of nickel-sized hail in Peoria County.
Where it happened
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- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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 ILX wrote it up.
An outflow boundary from earlier convection resulted in an isolated thunderstorm developing near Peoria during the afternoon of May 7th. Instability was relatively weak, but the storm briefly strengthened and produced one report of nickel-sized hail in Peoria County.
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 Lincoln, IL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 7, 1:00 PM CST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
- Periods of showers and a few thunderstorms are expected through Friday night, with the focus gradually shifting from the I-74 corridor tonight, to near and south of I-72 for Friday and Friday night. Rainfall amounts will be heaviest near and south of I-70, Probabilities of receiving more than a half inch of rain are highest south of I-70 (60-70%).
- While a temporary warmup takes place on Saturday, it will be more toward the middle of next week before we get a sustained warming trend.
Area forecast discussion, May 7, 1:00 PM CST, 1 hour 10 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lincoln IL 200 PM CDT Thu May 7 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Periods of showers and a few thunderstorms are expected through Friday night, with the focus gradually shifting from the I-74 corridor tonight, to near and south of I-72 for Friday and Friday night. Rainfall amounts will be heaviest near and south of I-70, Probabilities of receiving more than a half inch of rain are highest south of I-70 (60-70%). - While a temporary warmup takes place on Saturday, it will be more toward the middle of next week before we get a sustained warming trend. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 200 PM CDT Thu May 7 2026 Short Term (through Friday night): Latest water vapor imagery shows a shortwave pushing across Wisconsin and Illinois. Rain showers have been moving across the northern third of the forecast area early this afternoon. While lightning has been fairly minimal thus far, a 43 mph wind gust was noted at Peoria earlier as one of the showers went by. Forecast soundings keep an inverted-V signature for a few more hours, suggesting some additional stronger gusts mixing down at times. With a weak surface boundary lingering through the night, rain chances have been extended past midnight, concentrating on the I-74 corridor. Another shortwave will shift eastward out of the northern and central Plains on Friday. With the surface boundary only making modest progress southward, the rain focus will be more across areas near and south of I-72/Danville. A few hundred joules of SBCAPE should support a little more in the way of thunder. It looks to take well into the night for the rain to clear the southeast CWA, once the shortwave finally arrives. Further north, a drying trend north of I-74 should be taking place as early as mid-late afternoon, gradually ending from northwest to southeast. Long Term (Saturday through Thursday): The persistent troughing over the eastern U.S. finally begins a more wholesale shift eastward early next week, as the western upper ridge tries to build eastward. Synoptic models slide another shortwave down the top of the ridge, moving into the upper Mississippi Valley on Tuesday. While there are some differences amongst the models in the strength of this system, they are in decent agreement with the next significant rain chances in the the Tuesday/Tuesday night time frame. Beyond that, the ridge flattens a bit, but the air mass trends more toward one of the Pacific origin. This should get us toward more typical mid May temperatures later next week, which looks to persist into the following week. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z FRIDAY/... Issued at 1237 PM CDT Thu May 7 2026 VFR conditions are anticipated to persist through this TAF period. The exception may come at the KPIA and KBMI terminals later tonight as a surface front and its associated low clouds sag near Interstate 74. There is about a 40% chance that MVFR ceilings creep into these terminals between 08z-12z. Otherwise, we are tracking an area of high-based, gusty showers that are developing over southeast Iowa and central Illinois early this afternoon. We are handling these primarily with a VCSH mention, with a brief PROB30 group for predominant SHRA at the KPIA and KBMI terminals. An isolated thunderstorm cannot be ruled out with this afternoon activity, but confidence and coverage remain too low to add to the TAF. Further south at KSPI, KDEC and KCMI, conditions are forecast to remain rain free. && .ILX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && KEY MESSAGES...Geelhart DISCUSSION...Geelhart AVIATION...MJA
Hazardous weather outlook, May 7, 1:31 PM CST, 39 minutes before
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lincoln IL 231 PM CDT Thu May 7 2026 ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-081945- Knox-Stark-Peoria-Marshall-Woodford-Fulton-Tazewell-McLean-Schuyler- Mason-Logan-De Witt-Piatt-Champaign-Vermilion-Cass-Menard-Scott- Morgan-Sangamon-Christian-Macon-Moultrie-Douglas-Coles-Edgar-Shelby- Cumberland-Clark-Effingham-Jasper-Crawford-Clay-Richland-Lawrence- 231 PM CDT Thu May 7 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for central Illinois, east central Illinois, southeast Illinois and west central Illinois. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Minor flooding is ongoing along the Illinois River from Havana to Beardstown; along the Little Wabash River near Clay City; and along the Embarras River near Lawrenceville, otherwise no hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. Minor flooding will continue along the Illinois River from Havana to Beardstown through the middle of May, and along the Little Wabash River near Clay City and along the Embarras River near Lawrenceville through Sunday. There is a chance for thunderstorms Friday. At this time, the severe threat appears low. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated tonight. MJA
The radar
The Lincoln radar (KILX), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:11 UTC.
Event by event
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Hail
- Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Illinois in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2026
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: 1325027.