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RSS FeedsSevere Weather and Heavy Rain of August 16, 2012
(Click here to jump to rainfall reports)
Strong to severe thunderstorms developed across central Illinois on August 16. One area of stronger storms moved across roughly the northern third of the state during the early to mid morning, producing heavy rain and some hail up to the size of dimes around Peoria. The main severe weather activity developed during the early afternoon, along boundaries left over from the morning storms. The hardest hit areas were from storms that tracked from northern Montgomery County eastward to around Charleston/Mattoon. Extensive damage occurred to trees and power lines, especially around Pana and Windsor. A storm chaser measured a 78 mph wind gust near the Moultrie/Coles county line. As the storms pushed to the I-70 corridor, they produced a 74 mph wind gust at the Effingham airport. The storms were largely out of southeast Illinois by around 6 pm.
Here are some preliminary reports of severe weather. Additional reports will be added later. Click here for an interactive Google map of reports.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
837 PM CDT THU AUG 16 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0150 PM TSTM WND DMG ST. JOSEPH 40.11N 88.04W
08/16/2012 CHAMPAIGN IL STORM CHASER
5 TO 6 INCH TREE LIMBS DOWN AT HIGH SCHOOL
0225 PM TSTM WND GST JAMAICA 39.98N 87.80W
08/16/2012 E60.00 MPH VERMILION IL EMERGENCY MNGR
0225 PM HAIL JAMAICA 39.98N 87.80W
08/16/2012 M0.25 INCH VERMILION IL EMERGENCY MNGR
0245 PM TSTM WND DMG PAWNEE 39.59N 89.58W
08/16/2012 SANGAMON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
2 POWER POLES SNAPPED ALONG 4TH STREET IN TOWN.
0300 PM HAIL 2 N TAYLORVILLE 39.55N 89.26W
08/16/2012 M1.00 INCH CHRISTIAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
0320 PM TSTM WND DMG PANA 39.39N 89.08W
08/16/2012 CHRISTIAN IL MESONET
WIDESPREAD TREES DOWN ACROSS TOWN AND RURAL AREAS AROUND
PANA...RANGING FROM LARGE TREES AND SMALL BRANCHES.
0320 PM TSTM WND DMG TOWER HILL 39.39N 88.96W
08/16/2012 SHELBY IL EMERGENCY MNGR
3 FOOT TREE UPROOTED
0332 PM TSTM WND DMG PANA 39.39N 89.08W
08/16/2012 CHRISTIAN IL MESONET
18 INCH DIAMETER TREE DOWN IN CITY
0332 PM TSTM WND DMG PANA 39.39N 89.08W
08/16/2012 CHRISTIAN IL TRAINED SPOTTER
12 TO 18 INCH TREES DOWN AND NUMEROUS POWER LINES DOWN
ACROSS CITY.
0336 PM TSTM WND DMG WINDSOR 39.44N 88.60W
08/16/2012 SHELBY IL CO-OP OBSERVER
NUMEROUS TREE LIMBS DOWN AND 2 FOOT DIAMETER TREE DOWN IN
TOWN. NUMEROUS ROADS BLOCKED BY LIMBS
0340 PM TSTM WND DMG WINDSOR 39.44N 88.60W
08/16/2012 SHELBY IL CO-OP OBSERVER
NUMEROUS POWER POLES AND POWER LINES DOWN. SIDING BLOWN
OFF TRAILERS. TREE LIMBS DOWN ACROSS TOWN.
0343 PM TSTM WND GST GAYS 39.46N 88.50W
08/16/2012 M78.00 MPH MOULTRIE IL TRAINED SPOTTER
0345 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 E GAYS 39.46N 88.48W
08/16/2012 MOULTRIE IL MESONET
TREES DOWN ABOUT A MILE EAST OF GAYS.
0350 PM TSTM WND DMG MATTOON 39.48N 88.37W
08/16/2012 COLES IL MESONET
NUMEROUS POWER POLES AND POWERLINES DOWN...EAST AND WEST
OF CITY. ELECTRICITY OUT FOR NEAR 2 HOURS. NUMEROUS TREE
LIMBS DOWN AROUND CITY. CROPS BLOWN DOWN WEST OF TOWN.
0350 PM TSTM WND DMG MATTOON 39.48N 88.37W
08/16/2012 COLES IL MESONET
NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. POWER LINES BLOCKING
LAKE MATTOON ROAD.
0355 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 W MATTOON 39.48N 88.41W
08/16/2012 COLES IL MESONET
WEST OF MATTOON ON ROUTE 16 TREES DOWN AND A NUMBER OF
POWER POLES SNAPPED OFF HIGH ON POLES. 2 MILES WEST ON
ROUTE 16 A SEMI AND TRAILER ON THEIR SIDES ON THE SOUTH
SIDE OF ROUTE 16. MANY CORN FIELDS ALONG ROUTE 16 HAVE
WIND DAMAGE.
0401 PM TSTM WND GST COLES COUNTY AIRPORT 39.48N 88.28W
08/16/2012 M63.00 MPH COLES IL ASOS
0420 PM TSTM WND GST 1 E HEARTVILLE 39.07N 88.53W
08/16/2012 M63.00 MPH EFFINGHAM IL AWOS
OCCURRED AT EFFINGHAM COUNTY AIRPORT.
0420 PM TSTM WND DMG MARTINSVILLE 39.34N 87.88W
08/16/2012 CLARK IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES DOWN...1 MAPLE TREE DOWN...20 INCH DIAMETER TREE ON
POWER LINES. TOP OF A TREE RIPPED OFF 1.5 FOOT DIAMETER.
POWER OUT THROUGHOUT TOWN.
0424 PM TSTM WND GST EFFINGHAM 39.12N 88.55W
08/16/2012 M74.00 MPH EFFINGHAM IL MESONET
WIND REPORT MESONET SCHOOL NETWORK. RELAYED FROM WAND TV.
0430 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 NW OSKALOOSA 38.76N 88.66W
08/16/2012 CLAY IL LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREE DOWN IN RURAL SECTION OF CLAY COUNTY, APPROX. 1.5NW
OF OSKALOOSA ALONG THE CLAY AND MARION COUNTY LINE.
 |
The thunderstorms produced a fairly large area of rainfall of 1 to 2 inches, from about Peoria to Terre Haute and also along and south of the I-70 corridor. The image at left shows observations from official weather stations around Illinois. The heaviest rainfall occurred in portions of Tazewell, McLean, and De Witt Counties. An unofficial station in Farmer City (northeast De Witt County) reported 3.23 inches, and several unofficial stations in Tazewell, McLean, and Champaign Counties reported in excess of 2 inches. On the other end of the scale, little to no rain fell across the Illinois River valley from Havana southward. Here are some observed rainfall amounts from around central and southeast Illinois, in the area covered by the Lincoln NWS office. These totals were measured early Friday morning. Official stations are highlighted.
Christian County:
Clark County:
Coles County:
Crawford County:
Cumberland County:
De Witt County:
Douglas County:
Edgar County:
Effingham County:
Jasper County:
Lawrence County:
Logan County:
McLean County:
Macon County:
Moultrie County:
Peoria County:
Piatt County:
Richland County:
Sangamon County:
Shelby County:
Tazewell County:
Vermilion County:
Woodford County:
|
A strong cold front pushed through central Illinois on August 16th, triggering widespread showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms became severe during the afternoon, producing damaging winds of 60 to 80 mph and large hail up to the size of quarters. Total rainfall from this system was highly variable...with some locations picking up beneficial amounts of 2 to 3 inches and others receiving less than one quarter of an inch.
By the early morning of August 16th, the cold front was positioned over eastern Iowa. Southerly winds ahead of the front were bringing warm and increasingly moist conditions into central Illinois, with surface dewpoints well into the 60s. Meanwhile, the airmass behind the front across the Plains was much cooler and drier, with dewpoints only in the 30s and 40s. This sharp contrast between airmasses helped spark the showers and thunderstorms across the area. One round of storms developed during the pre-dawn hours across Iowa and far northern Missouri, then tracked eastward into north-central Illinois during the morning. While these storms were generally sub-severe, frequent lightning and locally heavy downpours occurred along and north of I-72.
Additional thunderstorms developed along the advancing cold front further south and east during the afternoon. Thanks to cooling aloft associated with an approaching upper-level wave, the airmass became moderately unstable...with Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) values ranging from 1500 to 2500J/Kg. In addition, a strengthening low-level jet brought increasing wind energy to the environment. The upper air balloon launched from NWS Lincoln during the evening of August 15th showed winds 2000ft aloft of around 15 mph. These had increased to nearly 50 mph by the morning of August 16th. The combination of instability and wind shear led to the development of long-lived thunderstorms along the front during the afternoon and early evening.
The strongest storms formed along a Pana...to Windsor...to Mattoon line, where numerous trees and power lines were downed. The storms then dropped southeastward, producing sporadic wind damage and heavy rainfall throughout southeast Illinois into early evening.
Here is a sample of some of the severe weather reports received on August 16th:
|
City |
County |
Damage |
|
Pana |
Christian |
Widespread trees down |
|
Taylorville 2N |
Christian |
quarter-sized hail |
|
Tower Hill |
Shelby |
3-foot diameter tree uprooted |
|
Windsor |
Shelby |
Numerous tree limbs down, many roads blocked by limbs |
|
Gays 1E |
Moultrie |
Trees down |
|
Mattoon 2W |
Coles |
Corn fields blown down along IL-16 |
|
Mattoon |
Coles |
Numerous trees and power lines blown down, power outage |
|
Martinsville |
Clark |
Several trees down, power outage |
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- Page last modified: August 23rd 2012 2:29 PM