July 19, 2006 Windstorm
Severe weather reports from July 19. Click image to enlarge.
A severe weather outbreak occurred across portions of the middle and upper Mississippi River valley on July 19.
This storm system was originally tracking across southern Minnesota on the morning of July 19. As the morning progressed, it curved southeast into eastern Iowa, then moved across central and western Illinois during the mid to late afternoon. By early evening, it began to affect the St. Louis area, where it did extensive damage and left a half million people without power. Click here for a listing of severe weather reports across the nation, courtesy of the Storm Prediction Center. A more localized listing for central Illinois is available at the bottom of this event page.
Across central Illinois, most of the reports were concentrated in an area west of a Bloomington to Taylorville line, westward to Galesburg and Winchester. These reports were largely in the form of wind damage or wind gusts of 60 mph or higher. Some hail of nickel or quarter size occurred in a few locations, with Havana receiving hail up the size of walnuts. Funnel clouds were also reported a couple areas.
Satellite images (click images to enlarge); click here for an image loop (1.6 MB):
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This satellite image from around 8:30 am shows the thunderstorm complex (called a "mesoscale convective system", or MCS for short) moving across southern Minnesota. |
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By 9:30 am, the MCS was growing in size and intensity. The green shades indicate where the temperature of the cloud tops was measured to be around minus 70 degrees Celsius. |
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Just before 11 am, the satellite imagery indicated the MCS was starting to curve to the southeast. |
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High clouds from the MCS continue to spread across northern Illinois, in this satellite image from 12:45 pm. |
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In this image from around 3 pm, the coldest cloud tops, associated with the strongest storms, were located across northwestern Illinois. This is indicated by the blue shades, which depict cloud temperatures of 60 below to 70 below zero Celsius. |
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At 4:15 pm, the satellite showed the most intense storms to be in areas between Peoria and Quincy. |
Radar images (click images to enlarge); click here for a radar image loop (3.1 MB):
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This radar image was taken from the Davenport, IA radar at 10 am. Most of the storms at this time were in the radar's long range (between the inner and outer circles). The inner circle is approximately 140 miles from the radar, and the outer circle is 280 miles. Even at this distance, stronger radar echoes (shown by the red shadings) were being detected in southern Minnesota. Strong to severe thunderstorms were moving across north central Iowa. |
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Just over an hour later (11:09 am), the leading edge of the storms had reached Waterloo, IA. |
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The leading edge of the storms were approaching the Quad Cities just after 1 pm. |
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This is the image from the Lincoln radar at 2 pm. The storms at this point were along the Mississippi River. |
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This radar image was taken at 2:30 pm. While the main "bow echo" of storms was in an arc from southwest to east of Moline, thunderstorms had developed ahead of it around Galesburg. |
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By 3 pm, strong to severe thunderstorms were widespread from Princeton, southwest through Galesburg, to around Monmouth. |
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In this radar image from 3:33 pm, the storms had reached the Illinois River upstream from Chillicothe, and extended back across southern Knox and northern Fulton Counties. About 10 minutes after this image was recorded, a wind gust of 60 mph was measured in Chillicothe. |
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By 4 pm, the storms had pushed well across the Peoria metro area. Many trees were reported down across Peoria and neraby areas. In fact, trees were down all along this line of storms. |
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This image was from 4:31 pm. Around this time, the storm in the Havana area had produced winds of 70-90 mph, along with hail 1.5 inches in diameter. Wind damage was also being reported with the leading "gust front" from the storm, indicated by the thin blue/green line extending from west of Lincoln to around Lexington. |
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This the "Storm Relative Motion" image from 4:52 pm. The movement of the storms are compared with the winds aloft measured by Doppler radar. The pink areas southwest of Lincoln, as well as the darker blue shades to the northeast, are indicative of winds of 70 mph or greater. Because the radar beam increases with height, these measurements are approximately 500 to 1500 feet off the ground. Still, the wind damage reports indicated that a lot of these winds aloft were being brought down to the surface. |
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Although the main area of storms was just starting to come into Sangamon County at 5:14 pm, extensive tree and power line damage was already occurring across the county, associated with the gust front that had pushed down to I-72 by this point. |
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This radar image from 6:02 pm showed the storms south of I-72, pushing into northern parts of Macoupin and Montgomery Counties. |
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As the storms pushed south across Macoupin and Montgomery Counties, tree and power line damage continued. This image was taken at 6:29 pm. At 6:35 pm, a wind gust of 92 mph was measured near Bunker Hill, in southern Macoupin County. |
Local Storm Report:
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
856 AM CDT THU JUL 20 2006
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0234 PM TSTM WND DMG GALESBURG 40.95N 90.38W
07/19/2006 KNOX IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREE DOWN AND POWER LINES DOWN ON NORTHERN SIDE OF TOWN.
0240 PM TSTM WND DMG DAHINDA 40.95N 90.10W
07/19/2006 KNOX IL CO-OP OBSERVER
LARGE LIMBS DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED.
0255 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 NNE TOULON 41.16N 89.83W
07/19/2006 STARK IL LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREE DOWN ON ROUTE 93... NORTH OF TOULON AND WEST OF
ELMIRA.
0315 PM TSTM WND GST 2 SE CASTLETON 41.10N 89.67W
07/19/2006 E60.00 MPH STARK IL PUBLIC
0322 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 W SPARLAND 41.03N 89.48W
07/19/2006 MARSHALL IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS ROUTE 17 WEST OF SPARLAND.
0342 PM TSTM WND DMG METAMORA 40.79N 89.36W
07/19/2006 WOODFORD IL TRAINED SPOTTER
6 INCH DIAMETER TREE LIMBS DOWN. WINDS ESTIMATED AT 60 TO
70 MPH. 1.23 INCHES OF RAIN IN 20 MINUTES.
0345 PM TSTM WND GST CHILLICOTHE 40.92N 89.50W
07/19/2006 M60.00 MPH PEORIA IL EMERGENCY MNGR
LOGAN ESDA AT HAZARDOUS MATERIAL EXERCISE IN RURAL PEORIA
COUNTY NEAR CHILICOTHE AREA MADE THIS REPORT.
0345 PM TSTM WND DMG CHILLICOTHE 40.92N 89.50W
07/19/2006 PEORIA IL CO-OP OBSERVER
TREES AND BRANCHES DOWN.
0345 PM TSTM WND DMG ROME 40.88N 89.51W
07/19/2006 PEORIA IL CO-OP OBSERVER
10 TO 12 INCH DIAMETER TREE DOWN ACROSS ROAD. SWOP
REPORT.
0350 PM TSTM WND DMG PEORIA 40.74N 89.61W
07/19/2006 PEORIA IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES DOWN ACROSS THE CITY OF PEORIA
0351 PM HAIL WEST PEORIA 40.70N 89.63W
07/19/2006 M0.75 INCH PEORIA IL EMERGENCY MNGR
0353 PM TSTM WND GST 2 NE SMITHFIELD 40.49N 90.27W
07/19/2006 E60.00 MPH FULTON IL TRAINED SPOTTER
RELAYED FROM WFO DVN.
0353 PM HAIL PEORIA 40.74N 89.61W
07/19/2006 E0.75 INCH PEORIA IL EMERGENCY MNGR
HAIL REPORTED BY CITY ESDA AT BRADLEY UNIVERSITY AND
ESTIMATED 50 MPH WITH 3-4 INCH LIMBS BLOWN DOWN. FROM
PEORIA CITY ESDA.
0355 PM TSTM WND GST EAST PEORIA 40.67N 89.55W
07/19/2006 E65.00 MPH TAZEWELL IL BROADCAST MEDIA
ESTIMATED 60 TO 70 MPH WINDS AT WPEO RADIO.
0356 PM TORNADO 3 E CANTON 40.56N 89.98W
07/19/2006 FULTON IL TRAINED SPOTTER
0400 PM TSTM WND DMG MARIETTA 40.50N 90.39W
07/19/2006 FULTON IL CO-OP OBSERVER
TREES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED.
0410 PM TSTM WND DMG PEKIN 40.57N 89.63W
07/19/2006 TAZEWELL IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY
0410 PM TSTM WND DMG LEWISTOWN 40.40N 90.16W
07/19/2006 FULTON IL PUBLIC
UTILITY POLE AND LINES DOWN ON A CAR.
0429 PM HAIL HAVANA 40.30N 90.06W
07/19/2006 M1.50 INCH MASON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
0429 PM TSTM WND GST HAVANA 40.30N 90.06W
07/19/2006 E80.00 MPH MASON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
70-90 MPH WINDS
0430 PM TSTM WND DMG 4 NNE HAVANA 40.35N 90.03W
07/19/2006 MASON IL CO-OP OBSERVER
SMALL TREE SPLIT, TREE BRANCHES DOWN.
0435 PM TSTM WND DMG NEW HOLLAND 40.18N 89.58W
07/19/2006 LOGAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
POWER LINES DOWN
0435 PM TSTM WND DMG MINONK 40.90N 89.04W
07/19/2006 WOODFORD IL CO-OP OBSERVER
LARGE BRANCHES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED.
0440 PM HAIL HAVANA 40.30N 90.06W
07/19/2006 E0.88 INCH MASON IL PUBLIC
RELAYED BY NSSL.
0440 PM HAIL 2 SE LIVERPOOL 40.38N 89.98W
07/19/2006 E1.00 INCH MASON IL PUBLIC
RELAYED BY NSSL.
0442 PM TSTM WND DMG HARTSBURG 40.25N 89.44W
07/19/2006 LOGAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
POWER LINES AND TREES DOWN. POWER OUT IN HARTSBURG.
0444 PM HAIL 6 W LEXINGTON 40.64N 88.90W
07/19/2006 M0.75 INCH MCLEAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
0445 PM HAIL HAVANA 40.30N 90.06W
07/19/2006 E1.00 INCH MASON IL PUBLIC
RELAYED BY NSSL.
0445 PM HAIL 1 SE HAVANA 40.29N 90.04W
07/19/2006 E1.00 INCH MASON IL PUBLIC
RELAYED BY NSSL.
0445 PM HAIL 3 W POPLAR CITY 40.25N 90.01W
07/19/2006 E0.88 INCH MASON IL PUBLIC
RELAYED BY NSSL.
0446 PM TSTM WND DMG GREENVIEW 40.08N 89.74W
07/19/2006 MENARD IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREE LIMBS DOWN IN GREENVIEW ALONG RT. 29. WINDS
ESTIMATED AT 60 MPH.
0450 PM TSTM WND DMG LINCOLN 40.15N 89.37W
07/19/2006 LOGAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
MULTIPLE TREES DOWN ON THE WEST SIDE OF LINCOLN.
0450 PM TSTM WND DMG 1 E LINCOLN 40.15N 89.35W
07/19/2006 LOGAN IL NWS EMPLOYEE
12 INCH DIAMETER TREE DOWN.
0450 PM HAIL 2 E HAVANA 40.30N 90.02W
07/19/2006 E1.00 INCH MASON IL PUBLIC
RELAYED BY NSSL.
0452 PM TSTM WND DMG BROADWELL 40.07N 89.44W
07/19/2006 LOGAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES DOWN AND A TREE ON A HOUSE.
0503 PM TSTM WND DMG WILLIAMSVILLE 39.95N 89.56W
07/19/2006 SANGAMON IL TRAINED SPOTTER
SIGHTING OFF OF HOMES AND NUMEROUS BRANCHES DOWN. MINOR
STREET FLOODING.
0507 PM TSTM WND GST BLOOMINGTON 40.48N 88.97W
07/19/2006 M59.00 MPH MCLEAN IL MESONET
AT BLOOMINGTON AIRPORT AWSS.
0508 PM HAIL WILLIAMSVILLE 39.95N 89.56W
07/19/2006 M0.88 INCH SANGAMON IL AMATEUR RADIO
LOTS OF TREES DOWN ACROSS THE CITY ALSO.
0510 PM TSTM WND GST SPRINGFIELD 39.78N 89.64W
07/19/2006 E65.00 MPH SANGAMON IL PUBLIC
ESTIMATED ON NORTHEAST SIDE OF SPRINGFIELD.
0510 PM TSTM WND DMG SPRINGFIELD 39.78N 89.64W
07/19/2006 SANGAMON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
WIND DAMAGE ACROSS WHOLE CITY. TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN
0510 PM TSTM WND DMG SPRINGFIELD 39.78N 89.64W
07/19/2006 SANGAMON IL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
TREES AND A POWER POLE DOWN ON THE WEST SIDE OF TOWN ON
JEFFERSON STREET.
0510 PM TSTM WND DMG SPRINGFIELD 39.78N 89.64W
07/19/2006 SANGAMON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
*** 1 INJ *** TREE DOWN ON CAR ON 2ND STREET. TRANSPORTED
TO HOSPITAL
0511 PM TORNADO CANTRALL 39.93N 89.68W
07/19/2006 SANGAMON IL EMERGENCY MNGR
TORNADO SPOTTED BY TRAINED SPOTTER IN SANGAMON COUNTY AND
RELAYED BY MENARD COUNTY ESDA.
0514 PM TSTM WND GST 2 S PHILADELPHIA 39.89N 90.12W
07/19/2006 E60.00 MPH CASS IL MESONET
WINDS ESTIMATED OVER 60 MPH FROM SWOP SUPPLEMENTAL
OBSERVER NETWORK.
0520 PM TSTM WND DMG BUFFALO 39.85N 89.41W
07/19/2006 SANGAMON IL CO-OP OBSERVER
LARGE LIMBS BLOCKING OLD ROUTE 36. TIME ESTIMATED.
0530 PM TSTM WND DMG CLINTON 40.15N 88.96W
07/19/2006 DE WITT IL TRAINED SPOTTER
LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN ON MADISON AVENUE.
0530 PM TSTM WND DMG JACKSONVILLE 39.73N 90.23W
07/19/2006 MORGAN IL LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS ALL OF THE COUNTY.
SHERIFF REPORT.
0535 PM TSTM WND DMG WINCHESTER 39.63N 90.46W
07/19/2006 SCOTT IL LAW ENFORCEMENT
POWER LINES DOWN
0540 PM TSTM WND DMG WAVERLY 39.59N 89.95W
07/19/2006 MORGAN IL LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREES DOWN ACROSS ALL OF CITY WITH POWER LINES DOWN. FROM
COUNTY SHERIFF.
0544 PM HAIL 3 E CHATHAM 39.67N 89.64W
07/19/2006 M0.88 INCH SANGAMON IL TRAINED SPOTTER
0544 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 E CHATHAM 39.67N 89.66W
07/19/2006 SANGAMON IL NWS EMPLOYEE
TREE DOWN.
0550 PM HAIL DIVERNON 39.57N 89.65W
07/19/2006 M0.88 INCH SANGAMON IL AMATEUR RADIO
0600 PM TSTM WND DMG JACKSONVILLE 39.73N 90.23W
07/19/2006 MORGAN IL CO-OP OBSERVER
TREES AND BRANCHES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED.
0611 PM TSTM WND DMG STONINGTON 39.64N 89.19W
07/19/2006 CHRISTIAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN.
0611 PM TSTM WND DMG KINCAID 39.59N 89.41W
07/19/2006 CHRISTIAN IL EMERGENCY MNGR
NUMEROUS TRESS AND POWER LINES DOWN.
