Hail — Johnson, Illinois

2024-04-18 · near White Hill, Johnson, Illinois

Event narrative

An intense thunderstorm south of Cypress produced hail ranging from ping pong ball to larger than golf ball sized. No damage was reported with this storm.

Wider weather episode

A warm front lifted northward through the Quad State region during the morning hours. Dew points near 70 made their way into Southern Illinois, allowing MUCAPE to surge to 1500-2000 J/kg with the higher values in the southwest. 0-3 km SRH peaked around 300 m2/s2 in the evening along I-64 with effective bulk shear of 40-50 kts. Lapse rates were 6-7 C/km. Cells formed in the afternoon, moving northeastward, with a particularly prolific hail producer in Johnson County. The frontal passage moved through during the evening. Wind damage reports in Southern Illinois were primarily on the front moving eastward through Wayne and Franklin Counties. With numerous wind reports and several tornadoes closer to St. Louis, this line weakened on entry to the Quad State, though showed very robust wind speeds a few thousand feet up that just didn't quite mix to the surface. A bit of a break in the frontal storm line showed up in SW Illinois, perhaps a result of a less favorable environment following the afternoon storms in that area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.3200, -89.0200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1172256. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.