EF4 Tornado — Tazewell, Illinois

2013-11-17 · near Marquette Hgts, Tazewell, Illinois

Event narrative

A tornado touched down 2.4 miles SE of East Peoria at 10:59 AM CST, then tracked northeastward through parts of East Peoria and Washington before crossing the border into Woodford County at 11:12 AM CST. One man in Washington was killed by the tornado, one woman from Washington died 11 days later from multiple serious injuries sustained by the tornado, one man died six weeks later from injuries sustained by the tornado, and 121 people were injured.

In East Peoria: 20 homes were destroyed, while 75 homes, 7 businesses, and 5 apartment buildings suffered major damage. Minor damage occurred to 137 homes and 3 businesses. In addition, nearly 400 vehicles were damaged, thousands of trees and numerous power poles were destroyed. The estimated damage in East Peoria stands at $110 million.

In Washington: The tornado increased to EF4 intensity and widened to between 1/4 and 1/2 mile wide. 633 homes, 7 businesses, 7 apartment buildings, and 2,500 vehicles were destroyed. Major damage occurred to 280 homes, 2 businesses, the roof of a school, and several outbuildings. Minor damage occurred to another 190 homes. Thousands of trees and power poles were snapped. Nearly 5,000 people were in the path of this tornado: however, injury and fatality totals were relatively low due to early warning and the fact that many people were either in church or out of town at the time. The tornado moved out of the Washington city limits and across another 2 miles of rural Tazewell County before crossing the border into Woodford County. Total damage in Washington is estimated at $800 million.

Wider weather episode

A powerful low pressure system tracked from the central Rockies toward the southern Great Lakes on November 17th. As the system approached central Illinois, unseasonably warm and humid air was pulled northward into the area, resulting in high temperatures soaring into the 70s. This very unstable airmass coupled with strong jet stream level winds aloft created numerous strong to severe thunderstorms. Many of the storms became supercells, producing damaging long-track tornadoes. A total of 10 tornadoes touched down across central Illinois, including an EF4 tornado that severely impacted the community of Washington in Tazewell County. Three people were killed and 142 others were injured as the storms tracked through the area. Total damage was estimated at 1.06 billion dollars across central Illinois.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6220, -89.5678)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 483775. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.