Tri-State Tornado facts for kids
Weather conditions and atmospheric phenomena, including severe thunderstorm winds, hail, and tornadoes, observed on March 18, 1925
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| Type | Tornado outbreak |
|---|---|
| Duration | March 18, 1925 |
| Tornadoes confirmed | ≥ 12 confirmed |
| Max rating1 | F5 tornado |
| Duration of tornado outbreak2 | 7 hours |
| Largest hail | 4+1⁄2 in (11 cm) at Lexington, Kentucky |
| Damage | Unknown; at least $1.4 billion (1997 USD) $2.55 billion (2025 USD) |
| Total fatalities | 751 deaths |
| Areas affected | Midwestern and southeastern United States |
| 1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado | |
The Tri-State Tornado was the deadliest tornado ever recorded in the United States. It happened on Wednesday, March 18, 1925. This powerful tornado was part of a larger group of at least 12 tornadoes that day. It swept across a big part of the Midwest and Southern United States.
This single tornado caused 695 deaths. In Illinois, 613 people died. In Missouri, 11 people lost their lives, and in Indiana, at least 71 deaths were reported.
Even though the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration didn't officially rate it, most experts agree it was an F5 tornado. This is the highest rating on the U.S. Fujita scale, meaning it had incredibly strong winds.
Other tornadoes also hit Kentucky, Kansas, Alabama, and Tennessee on the same day. The total damage from these tornadoes was estimated at $2.18 billion in 2018 U.S. dollars.
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Helping After the Storm
Right after the tornado, hospitals in cities like St. Louis and Evansville were filled with injured people. More than 2,000 people were hurt, and 105 of them later died from their injuries.
In Missouri, special relief trains carried the most seriously injured people to hospitals in St. Louis, Perryville, and Cape Girardeau. In Gorham, where half the town's population was injured, trains took people to East St. Louis and Cairo.
The hospital in Murphysboro, Illinois, couldn't handle all the hundreds of injured people. So, many were sent by train to other towns, including Barnes Hospital in St. Louis. The nearby college town of Carbondale became a safe place for many who were injured or lost their homes from Murphysboro.
For victims in Parrish, Illinois, help came from Thompsonville. A team of railroad workers and a doctor pulled a train right into the damaged village. They loaded the train with the dead and injured and took them to a hospital in Benton.
The last person to die from the tornado's injuries was Gervais Burgess, a 46-year-old coal miner. He passed away on January 3, 1926, almost a year after the storm.
Besides the deaths and injuries, thousands of people were left without homes or food. Fires also broke out in some areas, making the damage even worse.
In total, 695 deaths were confirmed: 12 in Missouri, 95 in Indiana, and 588 in Illinois. The tornado affected three states, 14 counties, and more than 19 communities. Four of these communities were almost completely wiped out and never fully recovered. The tornado lasted a record-breaking three and a half hours. About 15,000 homes were destroyed. The total damage was about $16.5 million in 1925 money. If we adjust for today's costs, that's about $1.4 billion in 1997 USD. Only two other very strong tornadoes in St. Louis (in 1896 and 1927) caused more damage.
Understanding the Tornado
No photos or videos of the Tri-State Tornado are known to exist. Witnesses often described it as a "rolling fog" or "boiling clouds on the ground." This unusual look sometimes fooled people, including experienced farmers, who didn't realize the danger until the tornado was right on them.
The tornado's funnel cloud was also often hidden by a lot of dust and debris, making it hard to see. By the time it reached West Frankfort, the storm that created the tornado was likely a "high-precipitation" type. This means the tornado was often hidden by heavy rain and hail.
Modern weather experts believe the tornado's winds reached over 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) in some places. It also looked unusual because of its huge size. At one point in Missouri, it was a full mile wide!
The tornado was often joined by extremely strong winds called downbursts along its path. These downbursts sometimes made the damage path wider than its usual 0.75 mi (1.21 km), stretching from 1 mi (1.6 km) to 3 mi (4.8 km) wide.
Was It One Tornado or Many?
For a long time, scientists have wondered if the Tri-State Tornado was one continuous tornado that traveled 219-mile (352 km) for 3.5 hours, or if it was a "tornado family" – meaning several tornadoes from the same storm. It's very rare for a single tornado to last so long and travel so far.
Modern understanding of tornadoes suggests that one tornado lasting that long is highly unlikely. Many other historical "very long track" (VLT) tornadoes have since been found to be tornado families. However, the weather conditions that led to the Tri-State Tornado seem to have been unique. No single factor fully explains its amazing length and duration, but its fast speed (averaging 59 mph (95 km/h)) definitely helped it cover more distance.
In 2001, tornado expert Tom Grazulis suggested that the first 60 miles (97 km) of the path was probably from two or more tornadoes. He thought a 157-mile (253 km) part of the path seemed continuous.
A detailed study in 2013 couldn't give a final answer. However, it found more tornado sightings and damage 15 mi (24 km) west of where the tornado was thought to start and 1 mi (1.6 km) east of where it was thought to end. This extended the total path to 235 mi (378 km) long. The scientists concluded that it's likely some parts of the path, both at the beginning and end, were caused by separate tornadoes.
They also found a 20 mi (32 km) path from another large tornado. This tornado likely came from the same supercell storm and was about 65 mi (105 km) east-northeast of the main path's end. This means the Tri-State tornado family might have covered about 320 mi (510 km) over nearly 5.5 hours!
The 2013 study suggests that a 174 mi (280 km) section, from central Madison County, Missouri to Pike County, Indiana, was likely one continuous tornado. And a 151 mi (243 km) section, from central Bollinger County, Missouri to western Pike County, Indiana, was very likely a single continuous tornado. Either of these lengths would still be the longest recorded tornado track. Even if there were some gaps in reports due to few people living in those areas, the consistent direction of the damage suggests it could have been one long tornado.
Images for kids
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Track of the Tri-State Tornado
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Tri-State Tornado storm track and other tornadoes that day from Monthly Weather Review, April 1925.
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See also
In Spanish: Tornado triestatal de 1925 para niños
