Thunderstorm Wind — Stephenson, Illinois

2003-07-05 · near Countywide, Stephenson, Illinois

Event narrative

Numerous trees & power lines down

Wider weather episode

A MCS thunderstorm complex bowed out and raced across Eastern Iowa and Northwest Illinois in the pre dawn hours. Due to high freezing levels, hail was minimal. Along the Highway 20 corridor in Northeast Iowa and Northwest Illinois winds were estimated at 60 to 70 knots in places (70-80 mph). The cities of Dubuque, Iowa and Freeport, Illinois were particularly hard hit with many trees downed or uprooted. In Stephenson County Illinois, a well defined path of straight line winds was noted from 5 miles West of Freeport, across the northern part of the city, and east to the Stephenson/Winnebago county line. On the US 20 bypass around Freeport at Jct IL 75 five (5) 90 foot high voltage power poles were downed. One injury was reported on a campground southeast of Pearl City in Stephenson county were a tree limb fell on a tent. About 2 hours after the storms passed, a machine shed caught fire 4 to 5 miles north of Andrew, Iowa due to downed power lines.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.3667, -89.6333)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5377270. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.