On May 29, 1982, a deadly F4 tornado carved a 17-mile long
path across Williamson County, Illinois. At times, the tornado was
nearly a quarter mile wide. The tornado first touched down about 3 miles
northwest of Carterville around 3:05 p.m. After moving southeast across
Carterville to Crainville, the twister then paralleled Illinois Route 13
through Marion. On the ground for nearly 30 minutes, the tornado claimed
10 lives in Marion, injured nearly 200, and left approximately 1,000 persons
homeless across Williamson County.
What follows is the description of the tornado's path taken
from the May 1982 issue of Storm Data, a monthly publication of the National
Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
"Ten persons were killed and 181 persons were injured
when a massive tornado cut a path through 3 towns in Williamson County and
contained 3 separate vorticies rotating around the main tornado. The
initial touchdown was approximately 4 miles northwest of Carterville and 1
mile north of Crab Orchard Lake. It lifted briefly, touching down in a
subdivision of Carterville demolishing 2 homes and causing damage to several
others. The tornado again lifted briefly and touched down again in
downtown Carterville. It traveled through the east section of town and
through Crainville where several homes, business buildings and many trees were
damaged. The tornado then increased in size and several funnels were
observed within the tornado. Extensive damage occurred at the Williamson
County Airport between 1410 and 1415 CST. Then the tornado either
changed course or formed a new funnel as it followed highway 13 through
Marion. A truck plaza near Interstate 57 in western Marion was
demolished. A car was struck on Interstate 57 and exploded. A
motel and 3 shopping centers were damaged. Two of the 39 motel occupants
were injured. The Shawnee Village 190 unit apartment complex was
destroyed and 2 schools were severely damaged. One person died when a
wall fell and 2 more died when they were literally blown out of their homes.
In Marion a total of 161 homes and 47 businesses were destroyed; 59 homes and
29 businesses suffered damage. In Williamson County, 52 businesses were
destroyed and 37 were heavily damaged. In total, 648 homes were damaged
with 40% of these destroyed and 23% suffering major damage. Many persons
were trapped under rubble. Over 200 cars were damaged or destroyed.
The tornado lifted approximately 1 mile east-southeast of Routes 166 and 13;
and the estimated damage was between 85 to 100 million dollars. The
total homeless was approximately 1,000."
Also from the May 1982 issue of Storm Data is a map of the
damage path for both the Conant F3 and Marion F4 tornadoes. Both were
mapped on June 1, 1982, from a Cessna 182 by Duane Stiegler, University of
Chicago. Click on the thumbnail below for a larger image.
In the days following the event, a very extensive damage
assessment survey of the Williamson County tornado was conducted by Mr. Bob
Hamilton, Meteorologist-In-Charge of the St. Louis National Weather Service
Forecast Office in 1982. Click here to view
the highlights of this report in hypertext format.
The official May 1982 Storm Data report was compiled by the
National Weather Service Forecast Office in St. Louis, and published by the
National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Click
here for excerpts from this report related to the Williamson County
tornado. You will need the free version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to view
this report. Please be advised this file contains numerous photographs
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