Thunderstorm Wind in Jasper County, Illinois

A roof was blown off an old chicken coop.

A warm front draped along the I-72 corridor served as the initial focusing mechanism for convection across central Illinois on February 22nd. Midday temperatures ranged from the upper 30s north of the boundary in the Peoria area to the lower 70s along and south of I-70. An upper-level disturbance interacting with the sharp temperature gradient triggered clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms during the late morning that dropped hail up to the size of quarters across portions of Champaign, Douglas, and Edgar counties. As low pressure and a trailing cold front approached from the west, a line of thunderstorms developed across south-central Illinois during the afternoon. These storms brought scattered wind damage to locations south of the I-72 corridor. Further north along and north of the warm front, persistent showers and thunderstorms brought locally heavy rainfall of 3 to 4 inches, including 3.40 at the National Weather Service office in Lincoln in Logan County. This caused pockets of flash flooding across parts of Logan, Mason, and Menard counties.