Hail — Champaign, Illinois

2020-07-11 · near Urbana, Champaign, Illinois

Event narrative

Golf ball-sized hail on the east side of Urbana. The hail was driven by 60 mph winds which resulted in damage to hundreds of house roofs and numerous automobiles, including at a car dealership.

Wider weather episode

Two rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms impacted central Illinois during the afternoon and evening of July 11th. The first round developed along an outflow boundary from previous convection that had tracked across northern Illinois around midday. These cells formed along the I-74 corridor and brought large hail and locally heavy rainfall during the late afternoon hours. Hail as large as tennis balls or 2.5 inches in diameter was reported in Bartonville in Peoria County. Meanwhile, hailstones as large as 2 inches in diameter caused considerable damage to car dealerships in Savoy and numerous roofs on the east side of Urbana in Champaign County. The second round of storms developed over eastern Iowa, then swept southeastward across much of the area during the evening bringing damaging wind gusts.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.1000, -88.2000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 896371. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.