Tornadoes · United States · Illinois · 1982

F3 tornado, Kankakee County, Illinois, April 2, 1982

This F3 tornado ran 12.0 miles across Kankakee County on April 2, 1982, touching down at 11:40 PM CST and reaching 750 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 15, and did $5 million to $50 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F3
Date
April 2, 1982
Touchdown
11:40 PM CST (05:40 UTC)
Path length
12.0 miles (19.3 km)
Path width
750 yards (686 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
15
Property damage
$5 million to $50 million
County
Kankakee County
Touchdown point
41.050, -87.980
Lift-off point
41.200, -87.850
Record number
136

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Peoria Regional, IL (KPIA), 00:00Z

5.7 hours before the tornado, 150 km from the path. April 3, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peoria Regional, IL at 00:00Z on 1982-04-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 7 joules per kilogram, CIN -288, lifted condensation level 688 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Peoria Regional, IL at 00:00Z on 1982-04-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 335 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 54 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-288 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
688 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
335 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
450 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Peoria Regional, IL (KPIA), 12:00Z

6.3 hours after it, 150 km from the path. April 3, 1982.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Peoria Regional, IL at 12:00Z on 1982-04-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -22546, lifted condensation level 563 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Peoria Regional, IL at 12:00Z on 1982-04-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 93 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22546 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
563 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1982 tornado in IllinoisEvery tornado in Illinois since 1950Warnings in force in Illinois nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 2, 1982

54 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 22:00 PM CSTF0Garland, AR0.110$500 to $5,000
April 22:10 PM CSTF1Madison, IA0.550$5,000 to $50,000
April 22:25 PM CSTF2Bryan, OK0.5301$500,000 to $5 million
April 22:30 PM CSTF1Jackson, MO6.8300$50,000 to $500,000
April 22:30 PM CSTF1Johnston, OK0.510$50,000 to $500,000
April 22:32 PM CSTF1Jackson, MO2.0700$5,000 to $50,000
April 22:40 PM CSTF0Hughes, OK0.110$50 to $500
April 22:45 PM CSTF2Rogers, OK1.050$50,000 to $500,000
April 22:50 PM CSTF1Cherokee, KS0.217$5,000 to $50,000
April 22:50 PM CSTF3Love, OK0.530$500,000 to $5 million
April 23:00 PM CSTF2Mayes, OK0.510$5,000 to $50,000
April 23:05 PM CSTF2Bryan, OK0.510$5,000 to $50,000
April 23:07 PM CSTF0St. Clair, MO0.350
April 23:10 PM CSTF3Choctaw, OK8.0100$50,000 to $500,000
April 23:15 PM CSTF0Pettis, MO0.350
April 23:20 PM CSTF3Fannin, TX32.015011$500,000 to $5 million
April 23:25 PM CSTF2Fannin, TX1.050
April 23:25 PM CSTF1Lafayette, MO1.330$50 to $500
April 23:45 PM CSTF2Lonoke, AR1.01002$500,000 to $5 million
April 23:50 PM CSTF5Choctaw, OK53.050029$500,000 to $5 million
April 24:00 PM CSTF2Prairie, AR2.517$50,000 to $500,000
April 24:00 PM CSTF4Lamar, TX23.025010170$5 million to $50 million
April 24:05 PM CSTF1Lamar, TX1.050$5,000 to $50,000
April 24:30 PM CSTF2Red River, TX5.0100$5,000 to $50,000
April 24:40 PM CSTF3Red River, TX to OK, AR52.023314$500,000 to $5 million
April 24:40 PM CSTF1Red River, TX2.01,050$500 to $5,000
April 24:49 PM CSTF2Monroe, AR0.110$500,000 to $5 million
April 25:15 PM CSTF2St. Francis, AR1.660113$50,000 to $500,000
April 25:20 PM CSTF4Sevier, AR45.0200323$500,000 to $5 million
April 25:25 PM CSTF1Miller, MO0.330$50,000 to $500,000
April 25:28 PM CSTF3Boone, AR1.01005$500,000 to $5 million
April 25:30 PM CSTF1Laclede, MO0.330$50,000 to $500,000
April 25:35 PM CSTF1Pettis, MO1.030$5,000 to $50,000
April 25:45 PM CSTF1Miller, MO1.027$50,000 to $500,000
April 25:55 PM CSTF3Hempstead, AR18.020054$500,000 to $5 million
April 26:10 PM CSTF2Wood, TX2.01501$5,000 to $50,000
April 26:15 PM CSTF4Ozark, MO20.0500228$5 million to $50 million
April 26:15 PM CSTF1Camden, MO0.327
April 26:20 PM CSTF3Fulton, AR1.588022$50,000 to $500,000
April 26:37 PM CSTF1Miller, MO0.550
April 26:45 PM CSTF0Cole, MO0.550
April 27:00 PM CSTF1Columbia, AR1.52002$5,000 to $50,000
April 27:00 PM CSTF3Faulkner, AR3.5440237$500,000 to $5 million
April 27:15 PM CSTF1Clark, AR8.077$50,000 to $500,000
April 27:20 PM CSTF3Dyer, TN8.0771$500,000 to $5 million
April 27:58 PM CSTF2Obion, TN11.577$50,000 to $500,000
April 28:15 PM CSTF1Union Parish, LA5.050$50 to $500
April 29:00 PM CSTF1Ashley, AR19.0100$500,000 to $5 million
April 210:00 PM CSTF1Calloway, KY2.050$50,000 to $500,000
April 210:23 PM CSTF0Obion, TN0.350$50,000 to $500,000
April 211:15 PM CSTF0Livingston, IL0.3200$50,000 to $500,000
April 211:18 PM CSTF1Livingston, IL6.0500$50,000 to $500,000
April 211:18 PM CSTF1Vermilion, IL4.01275$50,000 to $500,000
April 211:35 PM CSTF3Leake, MS42.0400340$5 million to $50 million

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.