(OLNEY/NEWTON) With the cold front moving through our downstate area last night, it was a stormy 12 hours leading up to that frontal passage. From mid-morning yesterday through last night, a lot of rain fell causing flash flooding problems throughout south/central and southeastern Illinois, not to mention the dangerous lightning, hail, and damaging winds. A trailing shortwave weather system will bring us slight rain chances for later today, continuing through tonight, before ending. Then we’ll dry out for a few days with some sunshine, but a quick chance of rain Friday afternoon will be followed by a dry and cool weekend, but warmer next week. Stay tuned for updates and monitor a NOAA Weather Alert Radio for more weather forecast details.
(LINCOLN) During the 12 hours of stormy weather in our downstate area, the National Weather Service issued a total of twenty-six (26) weather alerts, including eighteen (18) severe thunderstorm warnings and eight (8) tornado warnings, at one time or another affecting the area counties of Richland, Jasper, Crawford, Lawrence, Wabash, Edwards, Wayne, Clay, Marion, Effingham, Cumberland, and Clark. While nothing has been confirmed, a few doppler-indicated tornadoes were reported, along with peak winds from 30 to 45 miles-per-hour, dime to golf ball size hail, some wind damage to trees, utility poles, and buildings, and rainfall totals anywhere from two to four inches, with some spots getting more. However, no injuries or deaths reported.