Midwest Weather Roundup

July Hits Hard With Hurricane Remnants, A Derecho, Tornadoes, & More!

TDS Weather
August 01, 2024

2024 has been a wild ride weather-wise across the Midwest, with every month bringing significant and impactful weather to the region. This begs the question: when will things calm down? While July moves past our climatological peak severe weather season across the Midwest, it still proved that the severe weather threat was far from over. Heavy rain, devastating winds, and even widespread tornadoes occurred over the last month, making for some exciting (or scary) weather! In This months edition of the “Midwest Weather Roundup” we will take a look at the damaging thunderstorm events from across the Midwest.

July 8th - 10th: Hurricane Beryl

The hurricane season got off to a strong start for the tropical Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Beryl formed, quickly intensifying into a Category 5 hurricane, breaking many records as it did! While Beryl made landfall as a much weaker Category 1 storm in Texas, its impacts were felt from the Gulf all the way into New England.

While the remnants of Beryl moved into portions of southern Illinois, central and southern Indiana, and Kentucky late in the evening on July 8th into the morning of July 9, 2024, the worst of the activity did not start until mid to late afternoon. The center of circulation from the tropical remnants moved roughly from Evansville to Indianapolis to Fort Wayne, Indiana, placing portions of the region in the dreaded right-front quadrant of the storm where wind shear and tornado potential are increased.

Due to the increased tornado threat, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed portions of southern Indiana and northern Kentucky at an Enhanced risk of severe weather. At 3:05 pm EDT, the SPC issued Tornado Watch #516 across southern Illinois, southern Indiana, much of Kentucky, southwest Ohio, and portions of Tennessee.

^{Several Tornado Warnings were issued across Tennessee and Kentucky through the afternoon on July 9th. A spotter confirmed a tornado near Uniontown, KY shortly before 5 pm EDT. This storm tracked north/northeast across the Ohio River, producing a strong tornado near Mount Vernon, Indiana. This was one of 15 confirmed tornadoes across the region but was the strongest, rated an EF-3 with maximum winds of 140 mph.}

^{The remnants of Beryl also produced heavy rainfall across several states from the Mississippi River Valley all the way into the Great Lakes region! A large swath of 2-5 inches of rain was observed from the St. Louis, MO area northeast across central Illinois, northern Indiana, and south/central Michigan. This caused flooding across many locations in that region.}

July 15th Severe Outbreak/Derecho

A strong upper-level trough moved across the Upper Midwest throughout the day and into the evening on July 15th. At the surface, an area of low pressure moved from the Omaha, Nebraska area across Iowa and into southwest Wisconsin, deepening as it did. A warm front lifted across Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, allowing a warm, moist, unstable atmosphere to spread across the region. The Storm Prediction Center placed an Enhanced risk across portions of eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, and southern Michigan. However, this was upgraded to a Moderate risk at 3 pm EDT for eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and northwestern Indiana, with a 45% probability of damaging winds (some exceeding 75 mph!).

Storms began developing across central Iowa around 2:30 pm CDT, prompting the SPC to issue Severe Thunderstorm Watch #539 across much of Iowa into western Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. Storms rapidly turned severe, producing damaging winds and hail.

7/15/24 @ 5:30 PM RADAR/WATCHES/WARNINGS

By 5 pm CDT, a line of thunderstorms had developed across Iowa, prompting numerous Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. This line quickly moved across southern Wisconsin and Illinois late in the afternoon into the evening, promoting a Tornado Watch across southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, northwest Indiana, and southwest Michigan.

^{The line of damaging thunderstorms continued to strengthen across Illinois, with numerous Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings issued along its path. Several tornadoes were confirmed, and a wind gust of 105 mph was reported in Marshall County, Illinois!}

^{As the line of thunderstorms moved into the Chicago area, several Tornado Warnings were issued. Multiple confirmed tornadoes touched down across the Chicagoland area, with one near O’Hare International Airport!}

^{However, this was not the end of these storms. Severe thunderstorms continued to produce tornadoes, significant damaging winds, and heavy rainfall late into the evening as they raced across central Illinois, along with central and northern Indiana.}

^{By the end of the event, over half a million people were without power across portions of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan! A total of 978 reports of severe weather were documented during this day, with 58 tornadoes! Local NWS agencies are still adding more tornadoes to the count as additional data comes in. Overall, this was a devastating and impactful event across the region, officially classified as a derecho}

July 29th Ohio Valley Supercells & Tornadoes

A warm front moved across Illinois and Indiana during the afternoon and into the evening on July 29th. After morning rain and clouds moved out of the region, sunshine coupled with very moist air allowed for the atmosphere to rapidly destabilize. Winds strengthening and turning with height allowed ample wind shear across the region, enabling the storms that did develop to rotate.

Storms developed across central Illinois and central Indiana around 6-7 pm. However, it wasn’t until after 8 pm that the first Tornado Warnings were issued in east-central Indiana and central Indiana. These would not be the last, as several more Tornado Warnings were issued throughout the evening across Illinois, Indiana, and western Ohio.

So far, there have been 6 tornado reports across IL/IN/OH, with additional storm surveys to come. The strongest tornado occurred in Hamilton and Madison Counties in Indiana. This is where an EF-2 tornado occurred with estimated peak winds of 130 mph!

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