2,067 first-hand accounts of flood events in Illinois, ranked by impact. Each is a NOAA-written narrative of the moment.
An approaching cold front triggered strong to severe thunderstorms across portions of central Illinois during the late afternoon and evening of August 26th.
Read the full account →A nearly stationary frontal boundary interacting with an unseasonably warm and moist airmass brought widespread showers and thunderstorms to parts of central Illinois from the later afternoon of April 17th through the morning of April 18th.
Read the full account →Heavy rainfall in March set the stage for major flooding when record-setting rains fell in April and May. At Paducah, 15.91 inches of rain fell in April, which was 10.96 inches above normal.
Read the full account →Thunderstorms initiated along an old outflow boundary extending from Jacksonville to near Lawrenceville during the evening of June 17th. Due to a strong low-level jet flowing into the area, the storms continually re-developed and tracked across the same locations, producing…
Read the full account →A nearly stationary frontal boundary interacting with an unseasonably warm and moist airmass brought widespread showers and thunderstorms to parts of central Illinois from the later afternoon of April 17th through the morning of April 18th.
Read the full account →Scattered thunderstorms moved across portions of central Illinois during the afternoon and evening of July 12th. One storm moved very slowly over eastern La Salle and western Grundy Counties.
Read the full account →Slow moving thunderstorms continued to back build and produce very heavy rain and flash flooding in a small area of west central Illinois during the early morning hours. The storms developed on an old outflow boundary with the aid of an upper level disturbance.
Read the full account →During the afternoon hours of August 3rd, numerous thunderstorms developed across parts of eastern Missouri and west-central Illinois, triggered by strong surface heating ahead of a surging outflow boundary.
Read the full account →Isolated thunderstorms developed along a warm front during the evening of August 28th. Due to the slow-movement of the storms and copious amounts of moisture contained within the atmosphere, very high rainfall rates occurred.
Read the full account →During the night of July 26th-July 27th, moisture convergence along a low-level jet spurred convection in eastern Missouri. This convection developed in an environment primed for efficient and heavy rainfall.
Read the full account →An approaching cold front triggered thunderstorms across central Illinois during the late afternoon and evening of August 12th. Due to copious amounts of moisture in the atmosphere and the slow-moving nature of the storms, extremely heavy rain fell along and just west of I-55.
Read the full account →High impact flooding on the Illinois River continued from April into much of May. Excessive rainfall during the middle of April led to widespread flooding across a large part of northern and central Illinois and resulted in record flooding along the Illinois River in central…
Read the full account →Large clusters of thunderstorms during the early morning hours produced locally excessive rainfall. The storms occurred ahead of a very compact disturbance in the upper levels of the atmosphere over areas of far west central Illinois.
Read the full account →Numerous thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a cold front during the late morning into early afternoon of July 6th. The high moisture/low shear environment was favorable for wet microbursts and heavy rainfall.
Read the full account →A slow-moving cold front triggered showers and thunderstorms across north-central Illinois during the morning of June 24th. Due to the very humid airmass in place across the region, the storms were efficient rain-producers, with much of Stark, Peoria, and Woodford counties…
Read the full account →During the early morning of Tuesday, July 26th, 2022, a complex of training thunderstorms set up roughly along the I-70 corridor in Missouri and I-64 corridor in Illinois. Several rounds of thunderstorms with rainfall rates exceeding 2in/hr affected this area, including the St.
Read the full account →A series of slow-moving lines and clusters of thunderstorms moved east-southeast across southern Illinois from the midday hours through the early evening hours. The storms produced flooding rains and isolated strong wind gusts.
Read the full account →Excessive rainfall during the middle of April led to widespread flooding across a large part of northern and central Illinois. Locations from the Chicago metro area, southwest along the Illinois River Valley, received 5 to 10 inches over a two day period from the 17-18th.
Read the full account →A nearly stationary frontal boundary interacting with an unseasonably warm and moist airmass brought widespread showers and thunderstorms to parts of central Illinois from the later afternoon of April 17th through the morning of April 18th.
Read the full account →A nearly stationary frontal boundary interacting with an unseasonably warm and moist airmass brought widespread showers and thunderstorms to parts of central Illinois from the later afternoon of April 17th through the morning of April 18th.
Read the full account →Multiple rounds of heavy rainfall over the Green, Tennessee, and Ohio Valleys from January 31st through February 15th resulted in rising water levels on the Ohio River.
Read the full account →An approaching cold front triggered strong to severe thunderstorms across portions of central Illinois during the late afternoon and evening of August 26th.
Read the full account →A warm front lifting northward into central Illinois triggered clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms during the late evening of May 6th into the early morning of May 7th.
Read the full account →A multi-faceted storm system brought several periods of heavy rain to central and southeast Illinois from December 26th through 28th. The system began to spread rain into the region from the southwest during the early morning hours of Saturday, December 26th, with the rain…
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