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Strong winds cause headaches in region

By Tara Fasol, The Southern

Sunday, May 11, 2008 10:57 PM CDT

The weekend's windy weather in Southern Illinois carried over into Sunday as meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Paducah reported gusts up to 50 mph.

"What we had was a strong low-pressure area move eastward and it passed just to our north and pulled in this cold front," explained meteorologist David Blanchard. "The presence of that low being so close to us was the force of our winds."

Blanchard said the winds being reported to the weather service averaged about 45 mph with gusts getting up to 50 mph in some areas.

"We've had a few reports of some trees being snapped off," he said. "It's enough to cause some minor damage."

Around Southern Illinois, reported damage as of Sunday evening was limited to scattered limbs, fallen trees and a few businesses' downed sidewalk signs. Ameren spokesperson Leigh Morris said that as of 12:50 p.m. on Sunday a total of 26,400 Illinois customers were without power, including 147 households in Carbondale and 92 in Marion. Scattered outages were reported across Southern Illinois.

Illinois State Police dispatchers at District 13 in Du Quoin, District 19 in Carmi and District 22 in Ullin did not report any accidents or damages resulting from the high winds or rainy weather.

Jackson and Franklin counties' sheriff's department dispatchers said they also had no reports of damages or injuries stemming from the storm.

In Williamson County, sheriff's deputies said they started getting calls early Sunday morning regarding storm damage. A dispatcher said trees were down across the county, as well as power lines. Additional sheriff's deputies were not called out to handle the situation as of Sunday evening. Fire crews and street crews were still working to clean up the damaged areas.

Blanchard said the cool weather was expected to pass today, with temperatures possibly reaching 70 degrees.

"That's hard to believe," he said. "It feels like February or March but this is May."

Blanchard said Tuesday's weather could be reminiscent of the recent storm, with more rain and lower temperatures.

"We're just in this flow pattern," he said. "We are just tending to draw in a lot of cooler air into our area. It looks like we will be stuck in this pattern for most of May. We could have precipitation every three days or so. But the highs in the upper 70s are above normal. We might be locked into this pattern for at least a few more weeks. It has just been a rather cool spring."

tara.fasol@thesouthern.com / 351-5824