St. Louis tornado history facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The St. Louis area in the United States has a long history of tornadoes. A tornado is a spinning column of air that touches both the ground and a cloud. St. Louis has seen some of the most powerful and damaging tornadoes in U.S. history.

One of the worst was the 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado. It caused at least 255 deaths and injured over a thousand people. This makes it the third deadliest and one of the most expensive tornadoes ever in the U.S. Another very costly tornado hit St. Louis in September 1927. More people have died from tornadoes in St. Louis than in any other U.S. city.

What's interesting about St. Louis tornadoes is that they don't just happen in spring. Destructive tornadoes have also hit in winter and autumn. They can also strike at any time of day, even in the morning or late at night, not just in the late afternoon.

In April 2011, a strong tornado, rated EF4, hit the northern part of the St. Louis area. It traveled for about 22 miles (35 km). This tornado caused a lot of damage to Lambert International Airport. The airport had to close for more than 24 hours. Luckily, no one died in this event. Before that, an F4 tornado in January 1967 killed three people in the northern metro area. Another F4 tornado hit the Granite City and Edwardsville, Illinois, area in April 1981.

Tornadoes in the City of St. Louis
Tornadoes in the Greater St. Louis Area

Tornadoes in the City of St. Louis

This section lists tornadoes that have directly hit the city of St. Louis. The "Rating" column uses the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale or the older Fujita (F) scale. These scales measure a tornado's strength based on the damage it causes. An F0/EF0 is the weakest, and an F5/EF5 is the strongest.

Date	Location	Rating	Casualties	Notes
March 8, 1871	St. Louis - East St. Louis	F3	9 fatalities, 60 injuries	See: 1871 St. Louis tornado
March 29, 1872	7th Street	F1	2 possible fatalities, 8 injuries
January 12, 1890	St. Louis - Madison County, Illinois	F2	4 fatalities, 15 injuries
May 27, 1896	St. Louis - East St. Louis	F4	255 fatalities, 1000 injuries	One of the costliest and deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history. See: 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado
August 19, 1904	St. Louis - Madison County	F2	3 fatalities, 10 injuries
September 29, 1927	Webster Groves - St. Louis	F3	72-79+ fatalities, 550+ injuries	Second-costliest tornado in U.S. history. See: 1927 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado
September 16, 1958	St. Louis	F1	0 fatalities
February 10, 1959	Crescent - St. Louis - Madison County	F4	21 fatalities, 345 injuries	Similar path to earlier tornadoes. See: St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959
May 1, 1983	St. Louis - Madison County	F2	3 injuries
March 31, 2007	Midtown St. Louis	EF0	5 injuries	Part of the Late-March 2007 tornado outbreak
December 31, 2010	North St. Louis	EF1	0 fatalities	Part of the 2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak
April 22, 2011	Riverview, St. Louis	EF4	0 fatalities, some injuries	See: 2011 St. Louis tornado
April 10, 2013	The Hill, St. Louis	EF0	0 fatalities
May 31, 2013	Riverview, St. Louis	EF3	2 injuries	Traveled 32.5 miles (52.3 km) with a 1 mile (1.6 km) width. See: Tornado outbreak of May 26–31, 2013

Tornadoes in the Greater St. Louis Area

This section covers tornadoes that have affected the wider St. Louis area. This includes several counties in Missouri and Illinois. In Missouri, these are St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin, and Jefferson counties. In Illinois, they are Madison, St. Clair, and Monroe counties. Tornadoes that hit the city of St. Louis are included here if their path also went through these counties.

1870–1950 Tornadoes

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
July 13, 1870		St. Clair
March 8, 1871		St. Louis City, St. Clair	F3	9 fatalities, 60 injuries	1871 St. Louis tornado
June 30, 1877		St. Louis
May 18, 1878		St. Louis
January 12, 1890		St. Louis
March 27, 1890		St. Clair
May 27, 1896	St. Louis, East St. Louis, IL	St. Louis City, Madison	F4	255+ fatalities, 1000+ injuries	1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado
May 27, 1896	New Baden, IL	St. Clair, Clinton	F4	24 fatalities, 125 injuries	Part of the Tornado outbreak sequence of May 1896
May 14, 1909		St. Louis
September 29, 1927		St. Louis	F3	72-79+ fatalities, 550+ injuries
September 1, 1931		St. Louis
March 15, 1938		St. Clair
March 15, 1938		St. Clair
May 21, 1949		St. Louis
May 21, 1949		St. Louis

1950s Tornadoes

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
January 3, 1950		St. Louis	F3
May 24, 1952		St. Clair
March 25, 1954		St. Louis
October 6, 1955		St. Clair
October 6, 1955		St. Clair
February 24, 1956	Pacific, MO, Lebanon, IL	St. Louis, St. Clair	F4	6 fatalities, 36 injuries	Traveled 77.6 miles (124.9 km).
February 25, 1956	Pacific, MO	St. Clair	F1	None
September 15, 1956		St. Clair
August 30, 1956		St. Louis
April 25, 1957		St. Clair
May 9, 1957		St. Louis
May 21, 1957		St. Clair
May 22, 1957		St. Louis
April 5, 1958		St. Clair
April 23, 1958		St. Louis
May 3, 1958		St. Louis
May 3, 1958		St. Clair
May 31, 1958		St. Clair
June 1, 1958		St. Clair
February 10, 1959	Southeastern Flourissant, MO	St. Louis	F0	None	Minor damage.
February 10, 1959	Sherman, MO, Warson Woods, MO	St. Louis	F4	21 fatalities, 345 injuries	Caused widespread damage, including to the St. Louis Arena.
May 10, 1959		St. Clair

1960–1980 Tornadoes

Date	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
March 29, 1960	St. Clair
September 24, 1961	St. Clair
January 24, 1967	St. Louis	F4	3 deaths, 216 injured	One of the worst tornadoes for the St. Louis area. See 1967 St. Louis tornado outbreak.
August 3, 1967	St. Clair
October 24, 1967	St. Louis
April 3, 1968	St. Clair
May 15, 1968	St. Clair
August 15, 1968	St. Louis
June 1, 1970	St. Louis
May 7, 1973	St. Louis
May 26, 1973	St. Louis
June 4, 1973	St. Clair
March 7, 1975	St. Louis
March 20, 1976	St. Clair
February 23, 1977	St. Louis
May 12, 1978	St. Louis

1980–2000 Tornadoes

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties
April 7, 1980	St. Charles	St. Charles & St. Louis	F3	Caused $2.5 million in damage.
April 3, 1981	Edwardsville	Madison	F4
May 1, 1983		St. Clair
April 3, 1984		St. Clair
May 25, 1984		St. Clair
November 15, 1988		St. Clair
November 15. 1988		St. Clair
November 26, 1990		St. Clair
May 10, 1991		St. Clair
May 11, 1991		St. Clair
July 4, 1992		St. Clair
May 9, 1995		St. Clair
May 18, 1995		St. Clair
May 18, 1995		St. Clair
April 19, 1996		St. Clair
June 10, 1996		St. Louis
April 13, 1998		St. Louis
April 15, 1998		St. Clair, Madison
April 15, 1998		St. Clair

2000–Present Tornadoes

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
June 24, 2000		St. Clair
April 10, 2001		St. Louis			Part of the costliest hailstorm in U.S. history.
April 27, 2002		St. Clair
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
June 10, 2003		St. Clair
November 27, 2005	Webster Groves, Maplewood	St. Louis	F0	0	Part of the Late-November 2005 tornado outbreak
January 2, 2006	Creve Coeur	St. Louis	F1	0
March 11, 2006	Festus, Missouri	Jefferson	F3	0	Part of a three-day tornado outbreak.
April 2, 2006	Fairview Heights, O'Fallon, Illinois	St. Clair	EF2	1
July 23, 2006	Troy, Illinois	Madison	F1	0	Part of the July 2006 derechoes event.
June 8, 2009		St. Clair	EF2
December 31, 2010	Byrnes Mill	Jefferson
December 31, 2010	Fenton	St. Louis
December 31, 2010	Ballwin	St. Louis
December 31, 2010	Sunset Hills, Missouri	St. Louis	EF3	1	Part of the 2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak
February 27, 2011	Troy, Illinois	Madison	EF1	0
April 22, 2011	Foristell, New Melle, Maryland Heights, Bridgeton, St. Ann, Edmundson, Kinloch, Berkeley, Ferguson, Dellwood, Bellefontaine Neighbors, Moline Acres, Riverview, St. Louis, Pontoon Beach, Granite City	St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Louis City, St. Clair, Madison	EF4	0 fatalities, some injuries	Significant damage in North St. Louis County. Lambert International Airport was closed. See: 2011 St. Louis tornado.
April 10, 2013	St. Albans	Franklin	EF1	0 fatalities
April 10, 2013	Bridgeton, Hazelwood, Florissant	St. Louis	EF2	0 fatalities
May 31, 2013	Harvester, Earth City, Bridgeton, Ferguson, Bellefontaine Neighbors, St. Louis	St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Louis City	EF3	2 injuries	Traveled 32.5 miles (52.3 km) with a 1 mile (1.6 km) width.
May 31, 2013	South Roxanna	Madison	EF3	0
May 31, 2013	Byrnes Mill, Scotsdale	Jefferson	EF1	0
May 31, 2013		Franklin	EF1	0
April 3, 2014	Olivette, University City	St. Louis	EF1	0	About 100 buildings were damaged.
June 7, 2014	St. Peters	St. Charles	EF0	0	Caused roof damage to businesses.
June 28, 2015		St. Charles	EF2	0	Damaged multiple homes.
April 26, 2016	WSW of New Melle	St. Charles	EF0	0	Damaged a building roof.
March 6, 2017	Wentzville	St. Charles	EF1	0 fatalities, 3 injuries	Caused minor damage to businesses.
April 29, 2017	Orchard Farm	St. Charles	EF0	0	Several homes had minor roof damage.
May 21, 2019	Augusta	Franklin, St. Charles	EF1	0	Caused extensive tree damage.
March 27, 2021	Highland	Madison	EF1	0	Minor roof damage and a destroyed shed.
December 10, 2021	Defiance, Chesterfield, Maryland Heights	St. Charles, St. Louis	EF3	1 fatality, 2 injuries	Destroyed 2 homes. Part of the Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021.
December 10, 2021	Pontoon Beach, Edwardsville	Madison	EF3	6 fatalities, 1 injury	Destroyed an Amazon warehouse. Part of the Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021.
May 19, 2022	Kirkwood	St. Louis	EF0	0
May 19, 2022	Frontenac	St. Louis	EF0	0
May 19, 2022	Creve Coeur	St. Louis	EF0	0

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St. Louis tornado history Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.