May 3, 2021 Preliminary Severe Weather Recap

A series of severe thunderstorms produced tornadoes, large hail, and damaging winds across central Illinois on May 3rd. Preliminary information regarding the event can be found on the "Reports" tab below. The meteorological summary and event photos will be updated over the next few days.

Reports

Meteorology

Radar and Satellite

Photos

Details regarding the tornadoes that occurred across central Illinois on May 3rd can be seen below. A list of all severe weather reports (including hail and damaging wind) is included after the damage survey information.


    
                        

458

NOUS43 KILX 261233

PNSILX

ILZ027>031-036>038-040>057-061>063-066>068-071>073-270033-



Public Information Statement

National Weather Service Lincoln IL

733 AM CDT Sat Jul 26 2025



...24-HOUR RAINFALL REPORTS...



Location                     Amount    Time/Date       Provider

3.3 N Greenview              4.36 in   0500 AM 07/26   USGS

Delong                       3.99 in   0725 AM 07/26   CWOP

Hartsburg 3.2 E              2.90 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Lincoln                      2.90 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

New Holland                  2.83 in   0715 AM 07/26   CWOP

Lincoln                      2.45 in   0600 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Waynesville                  1.97 in   0715 AM 07/26   CWOP

Arrowsmith                   1.95 in   0715 AM 07/26   CWOP

Logan County Arpt            1.94 in   0655 AM 07/26   AWOS

Spfld Capital AP             1.89 in   0652 AM 07/26   ASOS

0.7 W London Mills           1.79 in   0645 AM 07/26   USGS

Yates City                   1.79 in   0700 AM 07/26   COOP

Le Roy 4.2 WSW               1.70 in   0655 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

1 S Bloomington              1.70 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

1 NW Metamora                1.63 in   0730 AM 07/26   CWOP

Bloomington                  1.59 in   0728 AM 07/26   CWOP

0.6 NE Ripley                1.56 in   0645 AM 07/26   COOP

Bloomington 3.9 ESE          1.51 in   0600 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Petersburg 0.2 W             1.50 in   0630 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Bloomington 4.1 SW           1.35 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Browning                     1.34 in   0715 AM 07/26   CWOP

Cooksville                   1.34 in   0725 AM 07/26   CWOP

Elkhart 0.7 ENE              1.30 in   0600 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Springfield                  1.29 in   0730 AM 07/26   CWOP

Altona 4.7 ESE               1.28 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Sherman                      1.16 in   0700 AM 07/26   COOP

Le Roy 1.8 WSW               1.13 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Bloomington 3.8 SW           1.13 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Bloomington Arpt             1.13 in   0656 AM 07/26   AWOS

Galesburg 2.5 N              1.12 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Williamsfield 1.7 NNE        1.11 in   0630 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Saybrook 4.3 SSE             1.08 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Bloomington                  1.02 in   0729 AM 07/26   CWOP

Hoopeston 0.6 E              1.00 in   0600 AM 07/26   COCORAHS

Congerville 0.6 WSW          1.00 in   0700 AM 07/26   COCORAHS



Observations are collected from a variety of sources with varying

equipment and exposures. We thank all volunteer weather observers

for their dedication. Not all data listed are considered official.



$$

A list of all storm reports that occurred across central Illinois on May 3rd can be seen below:

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL
1122 PM CDT MON MAY 3 2021

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0455 PM     HAIL             3 SSE BLUFF SPRINGS     39.95N 90.33W
05/03/2021  E1.50 INCH       CASS               IL   COCORAHS         



0504 PM     HAIL             VIRGINIA                39.95N 90.21W
05/03/2021  E1.50 INCH       CASS               IL   PUBLIC           

            RELAYED BY BROADCAST MEDIA. DAMAGE TO CARS. 

0505 PM     TORNADO          3 S VIRGINIA            39.91N 90.21W
05/03/2021                   CASS               IL   TRAINED SPOTTER  

            ON GROUND IN OPEN FIELD. DIME SIZED HAIL. 

0515 PM     HAIL             4 WSW NEWMANSVILLE      39.98N 90.08W
05/03/2021  E1.00 INCH       CASS               IL   FIRE DEPT/RESCUE 

            RELAYED BY ASHLAND FIRE. 

0527 PM     TORNADO          2 WNW PLEASANT PLAINS   39.88N 89.95W
05/03/2021                   SANGAMON           IL   STORM CHASER     

            CORRECTION TO PREVIOUS REPORT OF TORNADO 3 N 
            ASHLAND. 

0532 PM     HAIL             3 S PETERSBURG          39.97N 89.85W
05/03/2021  E1.00 INCH       MENARD             IL   AMATEUR RADIO    



0532 PM     TSTM WND DMG     3 S PETERSBURG          39.97N 89.85W
05/03/2021                   MENARD             IL   AMATEUR RADIO    

            POWER POLES BLOWN DOWN INTO FIELD. 

0610 PM     TORNADO          1 ESE DAWSON            39.85N 89.45W
05/03/2021                   SANGAMON           IL   PUBLIC           

            BRIEF TOUCHDOWN NEAR I-72. 

0612 PM     TSTM WND DMG     3 N DAWSON              39.90N 89.46W
05/03/2021                   SANGAMON           IL   TRAINED SPOTTER  

            POWER POLES DOWNED. 

0614 PM     TORNADO          1 NW MECHANICSBURG      39.82N 89.41W
05/03/2021  UF1              SANGAMON           IL   TRAINED SPOTTER  

            CORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 1 NW 
            MECHANICSBURG. 

0718 PM     HAIL             1 S MACON               39.70N 89.00W
05/03/2021  E1.00 INCH       MACON              IL   PUBLIC           



0728 PM     HAIL             5 WSW ROSAMOND          39.35N 89.25W
05/03/2021  E2.00 INCH       CHRISTIAN          IL   TRAINED SPOTTER  



0824 PM     TSTM WND DMG     CHARLESTON              39.48N 88.18W
05/03/2021                   COLES              IL   EMERGENCY MNGR   

            TREE BLOWN DOWN. 


&&

$$

The following is a technical overview of the meteorological conditions that occurred during the May 3rd severe weather event across central Illinois.

On Monday, May 3rd, thunderstorms developed along a cold front in north central Missouri and progressed into west central Illinois by mid-afternoon. Widespread cloud cover was in place across central Illinois through much of the morning and afternoon, but clouds diminished ahead of the cold front. In areas where the sun came out ahead of the front, temperatures climbed into the upper 70s. Dew point temperatures were in the mid-60s, resulting in a moderately unstable environment with around 1500 J/kg of mixed-layer convective available potential energy (MLCAPE). This instability combined with 35-45 knots of deep layer wind shear was supportive of severe weather. The angle between the shear vectors and the cold front was greater than 45 degrees, allowing for the development of supercells. The first image below shows the surface observations as of 22z/5pm, with the cold front pushing into west central Illinois. The second image shows the MLCAPE as of 22z/5pm. Note the lack of blue shading across central Illinois indicating the atmosphere is unstable and ready for thunderstorm development in the presence of a forcing mechanism (in this case, the forcing mechanism was the cold front). The second image shows the shear vectors at the same time.

The tornado threat was enhanced by a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV), an area of spin in the atmosphere that formed as a result of thunderstorms the previous day across Kansas/Nebraska, which tracked across north-central Missouri then northeastward across the Illinois River Valley. This MCV contributed to a surface wind shift, from southwesterly to southeasterly, ahead of the cold front. This localized wind shift increased the low-level wind shear, which increased the tornado potential.

Several severe thunderstorms developed along the cold front and moved through central Illinois. The strongest storm tracked from Cass County east-southeastward towards Coles County. That storm produced at least four tornadoes and up to 2" hail (hen egg sized). (See the "Reports" tab for complete details regarding the location of tornadoes). All four tornadoes occurred primarily in open fields, and a tornado rating could not be assigned due to the lack of damage. The other severe thunderstorms produced large hail, but did not produce tornadoes. Overall, damage reports from the event were fairly limited. Power poles were blown down in Sangamon County, however, it is believed this damage was caused by straight line winds. Ping pong ball sized hail caused damage to vehicles in Virginia, IL. An observer five miles north of Buffalo, IL, reported that enough half-inch sized hail stones fell to cover the ground in hail.

Satellite Loop

Visible and IR satellite loop showing storm initiation in north-central Missouri during the late morning hours of May 3rd. As it moves eastward, a line of thunderstorms quickly develops and strengthens upon reaching the Illinois border with cold cloud tops (orange colors) indicating persistent updrafts. Additional cells develop southward into the favorable storm environment while the line progresses across the state. After sunset, storms begin to lose energy and weaken as they approach the Indiana border.

Closer Look at Tornadic Storm

The loop below is a base reflectivity animation focusing on the supercell that went on to produce 5 tornados in central Illinois. This radar loop shows the early stages of this storm and spans 16 minutes from 4:41-4:57 PM local time. In this loop, red boxes indicate a severe thunderstorm warning and the purple box indicates a tornado warning.

Photos of the thunderstorms across central Illinois. This section will be updated. If you have photos of the storms that you would like for us to include in the event summary, send us a tweet at @NWSLincolnIL with your picture, location, and permission to use your photo.