Thunderstorm Wind — Gallatin, Illinois

2011-04-19 · near Ridgway, Gallatin, Illinois

Event narrative

A large swath of very damaging straight-line winds, associated with a bow echo on radar, affected north and east Gallatin County. The damage swath was mostly over sparsely populated farm country, except where it struck New Haven. Winds were estimated around 90 mph over much of the area. Some barns were destroyed or damaged, including partial loss of roofs and walls. Grain storage equipment was damaged, including upending and destruction of several grain bins. One grain bin was blown into vehicles and onto a house, damaging the house roof. Some metal storage sheds were damaged or destroyed. Many large trees were uprooted, and a number of large tree trunks were snapped. There was shingle, siding, and antenna damage at some residences. One mobile home was shifted off piers and one was overturned. Utility pole crossarms were snapped, and poles were blown over.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms organized into a bow echo that produced widespread very damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. A shortwave trough over the central and southern high Plains moved northeast through the Mid-Mississippi Valley into the upper Great Lakes. A surface low attendant to this system moved from west central Missouri northeast to north of St. Louis. The trailing cold front advanced southeast across the Lower Ohio Valley and served as the primary focus for thunderstorms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.8201, -88.2910)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 289183. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.