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Tri-State Tornado Outbreak

Newspaper coverage of the tornado, the casualties were actually less than the headline: 696 died and 2027 injured.
Date of tornado outbreak:	Wednesday, March 18, 1925
Duration1:	>5 hours
Maximum rated tornado2:	F5 tornado
Tornadoes caused:	9
Damages:	$1.62 billion (2005 USD)
Fatalities:	747+ (695+ from one tornado)
Areas affected:	Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Kansas
1Time from first tornado to last tornado 2Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale

The Great Tri-State Tornado of Wednesday, March 18, 1925, crossed from southeastern Missouri, through southern Illinois, then into southwestern Indiana, and was the deadliest tornado in U.S. history. With 695 confirmed fatalities, the tornado killed more than twice as many as the second deadliest, the 1840 Great Natchez Tornado. The continuous ≥219 mile (≥352 km) track left by the tornado was the longest ever recorded in the world. Historians would recognize it as an example of the maximum issued rating of an F5 on the Fujita scale.

The tornado was part of a larger tornado outbreak with several other destructive tornadoes in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana, as well as other tornadoes in Alabama and Kansas. In all, at least 747 were killed and 2,298 were injured during this unusually intense and early spring outbreak. There were undoubtedly many other smaller tornadoes that have been lost to history.

There has long been discussion as to whether the event was a single continuous tornado or a tornado family. Quality of data because of distance in the past and lack of other tornadoes approaching this path length and duration raised doubts, and theory on tornadoes and supercell morphology suggested such duration was exceedingly improbable. Thorough new and continuing research, however, has found no break in the path and also that the tornado touchdown occurred approximately 15 miles (24 km) before previously thought (Doswell et al).

The vortex was first sighted around 1:01 p.m., north-west-north of Ellington, Missouri. The tornado sped to the northeast, killing two and causing $500,000 worth of property damage and the near annihilation of Annapolis, then struck the mining town of Leadanna. In Bollinger County 32 children were injured when two schools were damaged. Redford, Cornwall, Biehle, and Frohna also were hit by the tornado. At least eleven died altogether in Missouri.

Ruins of the Longfellow School, Murphysboro, Illinois, where 17 children were killed. The storm hit the school at about 2:30 p.m.

The tornado crossed the Mississippi River into southern Illinois, hitting the town of Gorham, at 2:30 p.m., essentially obliterating the entire town, killing 34. Continuing to the northeast at an average speed of 62 miles per hour (100 km/h) (and up to 73 miles per hour [117 km/h]), the tornado cut a swath almost a mile (1.6 km) wide through Murphysboro, De Soto, Hurst-Bush, and West Frankfort. Also afflicted were Zeigler, Eighteen, and Crossville. Within 40 minutes, 541 lives were lost and 1,423 were seriously injured. The village of Parrish was completely destroyed, killing 22. In Murphysboro, 234 were killed, the most in a single city in U.S. history. The tornado proceeded to decimate rural areas across Hamilton and White Counties, claiming 65 more residents. In Illinois, at least 613 were killed, the most in a single state in U.S. history.

Ruins of the town of Griffin, Indiana, where 26 people were killed

Crossing the Wabash River into Indiana, the tornado struck and nearly totally demolished Griffin, devastated rural areas, impacted Owensville, then roared into Princeton, destroying half the town. The tornado traveled ten more miles (16 km) to the northeast before finally dissipating at about 4:30 p.m. around three miles (5 km) southwest of Petersburg. In Indiana, at least 71 perished.

In all, at least 696 died and 2027 were injured, mostly in southern Illinois. Three states, thirteen counties, and more than nineteen communities, four of which were essentially effaced (several of these and others never recovered), were in the path of the record 3.5 hour duration tornado. Total damage was estimated at $16.5 million; adjusted for wealth and inflation the toll is approximately $1.4 billion (1997 USD), surpassed in history only by two extremely destructive tornadoes in the City of St. Louis.[1] These three events in terms of destruction, inferred by normalized monetary losses, are by far the most destructive (and expensive) tornadoes ever in the United States. Over 15,000 homes were destroyed by the Tri-State Tornado.

Track of the Tri-state tornado, see a more detailed image here.

Nine schools across three states were destroyed in which 69 students were killed, more schools destroyed and more students killed (as well as the single school record of 33 deaths in De Soto, Illinois) than any other tornado in U.S. history.

The unusual appearance (due to its size) of the very fast moving tornado, best described by the witnesses along most of its path as an amorphous rolling fog or boiling clouds on the ground, fooled normally weather wise farm owners (and people in general) who did not sense the danger until the storm was upon them. The tornado was accompanied by extreme downburst winds generally throughout the entirety of its course; the tornado and accompanying downbursts increased the width of damage from an average of 3/4-mile (1.2 km) (though at times over a mile [1.6 km] wide) to an area three miles (5 km) wide at times.

In addition to the dead and injured, thousands were left without shelter or food. Fires erupted, exacerbating the damage. Looting and theft, notably of the property of the dead, was reported. Recovery was generally slow with the event leaving a lasting blow to the region.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Tri-State Tornado

• List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

• Burgess, Donald W. (2006). The Tri-State Tornado of 18 March 1925, Part I: Re-examination of the damage path [2]. 23rd Conference on Severe Local Storms, American Meteorological Society.
• Changnon, S.A., and R.G. Semonin (1966). "A great tornado disaster". Weatherwise, 19. pp. 56-65
• Henry, Alfred J. (Apr 1925). "THE TORNADOES OF MARCH 18, 1925" [3]. Monthly Weather Review, 53 (4). pp. 141–145
• Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991, A Chronology and Analysis of Events. The Tornado Project of Environmental Films: St. Johnsbury, VT. ISBN 1-879362-03-1
• --- (2001). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, OK. ISBN 0-8061-3258-2
• --- (2001). F5/F6 Tornadoes. The Tornado Project of Environmental Films: St. Johnsbury, VT.
• Maddox, Robert A., Consultant, Tucson, AZ; and M. S. Gilmore, C. Crisp, J. A. Hart, C. A. Doswell, and D. W. Burgess (2006). The Tri-State Tornado of 18 March 1925. Part II: Re-examination of the weather conditions supporting the parent storm [4]. 23rd Conference on Severe Local Storms, American Meteorological Society.
• Flora, Snowden D. (1953). Tornadoes of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, OK.
• Root, Clarence J. (Feb 1926). "SOME OUTSTANDING TORNADOES" [5]. Monthly Weather Review, 54 (2). pp. 58–60
• U.S. Weather Bureau (Mar 1925). "SEVERE LOCAL HAIL AND WIND STORMS, MARCH, 1925" [6]. Monthly Weather Review, 53 (3). pp. 130
• Wilson, John W., and Stanley A. Changnon, Jr. (1971). Illinois Tornadoes [7]. Circular 103. Illinois State Water Survey: Urbana-Champaign, IL.

• The Tri-State Tornado (The Tornado Project)
• 1925 Tri-State Tornado (NWS Paducah, KY)
• The Weather Channel's Storm of the Century list - #7 The Tri-State Tornado
• The Great Tri-State Tornado (RootsWeb Genealogy)
• Newspaper Coverage of the Tri-State Tornado Ravage of Murphysboro (NIU Library)
• The 1925 Tornado (Carolyar.com Genealogy)
• 1925 Monster Tornado Killed Hundreds Led to Development of Warning System

Books

• The Tri-State Tornado: The Story of America's Greatest Tornado Disaster, by Peter S. Felknor. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1992. 131 pages. ISBN 0-8138-0623-2.
• The Forgotten Storm: The Great Tri-state Tornado of 1925, by Wallace E. Akin. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2002. 173 pages. ISBN 1-58574-607-X.