High Wind in Hamilton, Illinois

Strong to locally damaging winds occurred ahead of a cold front. At the surface, low pressure was centered over northeast Illinois, with a cold front arching across the middle Mississippi Valley. East of the Marion to Mount Vernon corridor, strong south wind gusts from 50 to 60 mph were quite common due to the strong pressure gradient ahead of the front. In Hamilton County northeast of Mcleansboro, one fatality was blamed on high winds that brought a large power transmission pole down on a passing pickup truck. The 55-year-old driver was killed when the pole crushed the truck cab. Several other large power poles were down at that site. The highest measured non-convective wind gust was 48 mph at the Carmi airport in White County. A line of showers and isolated thunderstorms produced a couple convective gusts in Saline and Gallatin Counties that damaged a few trees and power lines.