Winter Weather — Champaign, Illinois

2016-12-04 · Champaign, Illinois

Event narrative

Numerous traffic accidents occurred along I-57 near Champaign due to snow-covered and slushy road conditions. The most serious crash occurred at about 6:00pm near mile marker 238 between the I-74 interchange and Olympian Drive, resulting in the death of a 26 year-old man. The northbound lanes of I-57 were closed for a time after this accident.

Wider weather episode

An upper-level disturbance in conjunction with a weak surface trough brought accumulating snow to portions of central Illinois on December 4th. The snow developed across the Illinois River Valley by mid-morning, then spread eastward to the Indiana border by early afternoon. As temperatures climbed above freezing, the snow changed to rain along and south of I-70 during the afternoon. Once the precipitation exited the region by the evening of December 4th, snow amounts of 1 to 3 inches were common along and north of a Carlinville...to Tuscola...to Danville line. The heaviest amounts of 5 to 6 inches were focused further north...generally north of a Macomb to Marshall line. Due to snow-covered and slushy roads, numerous traffic accidents were reported around the area. The most serious occurred on I-57 near Champaign where a man died in a car crash.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 666923. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.