December 26-28 Storm Summary

A powerful winter storm impacted the central U.S. from December 26th through the 28th.  This produced a variety of weather hazards across central and southeast Illinois, including heavy rain/flooding, significant ice accumulations, and strong winds.  

The system began to spread rain into the region from the southwest during the early morning hours on Saturday, December 26th, and steady rains continued across much of central and southeast Illinois into Saturday night.  By Sunday morning, widespread 2 to 5 inch totals were reported southeast of a Jacksonville to Rantoul line. This amount of rain falling on saturated soil from recent wet conditions produced widespread flash flooding and fast rises on creeks and streams.  After a lull in the rainfall for much of Sunday, another round of moisture moved in from the south on Sunday night, and continued into Monday afternoon.  Heavy rains of 1 to 3 inches were common across the entire area from this portion of the event, further aggravating existing flooding conditions. Many rivers across the area were expected to rise to major flood stage due to the heavy rainfall.
 

As Canadian high pressure moved north of the Great Lakes on Sunday night, northeast winds brought colder air into central Illinois. Temperatures fell to around the freezing mark north of Canton to Bloomington line. This allowed much of the steady rains late Sunday night and Monday morning to fall as freezing rain. Although ground temperatures were warm preventing much freezing on paved surfaces, significant ice accumulations of one tenth, to three tenths of an inch were reported on elevated surfaces, including trees. This amount of ice, combined with strong easterly winds which gusted up to 40 to 50 MPH, brought down many tree limbs and power lines. Due to the very wet soil conditions, numerous large trees were uprooted, damaging homes and taking down power lines and power poles.  Widespread power outages were reported in Galesburg, Peoria, Bloomington/Normal, and many smaller communities.

12/28 SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN REPORTS LISTED BY AMOUNT...

 INCHES  LOCATION                    COUNTY           TIME         TYPE
 ------      -------------------             -----------          -------        -------------
  0.30     CREVE COEUR               TAZEWELL       0100 PM    FREEZING RAIN
  0.30     1 N ABINGDON               KNOX               1115 AM   FREEZING RAIN
  0.30     GALESBURG                   KNOX               1100 AM   FREEZING RAIN
  0.25     HENRY                           MARSHALL       0200 PM   SLEET
  0.25     FARMINGTON                FULTON           0120 PM    SLEET
  0.25     8 NW PEORIA                PEORIA            1215 PM   FREEZING RAIN
  0.25     3 NE BLOOMINGTON     MCLEAN           1200 PM    FREEZING RAIN
  0.25     BLOOMINGTON             MCLEAN           1126 AM    FREEZING RAIN
  0.25     CANTON                        FULTON           1030 AM    FREEZING RAIN
  0.25     GERMANTOWN HILLS   WOODFORD     0730 AM    FREEZING RAIN
  0.20     N NORMAL                    MCLEAN           0130 PM    FREEZING RAIN
  0.20     3 W WASHINGTON       TAZEWELL        0945 AM    FREEZING RAIN
  0.10     KNOXVILLE                   KNOX               0815 AM    FREEZING RAIN