The Deadliest Tornadoes in US History
A tornado's rating describes the damage it caused, not the number of people it killed. Those two things come apart constantly, because a death toll is decided by where a tornado went, how much warning arrived ahead of it, and what shelter was within reach.
Below are the deadliest tornadoes in our archive, ranked by confirmed fatalities. The 1925 Tri-State tornado sits at the top and is unlikely to be displaced: it killed 695 people at a time when no warning system existed to tell anyone it was coming.
| Rank | Storm Event | Rating | Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Tri-State1925 | F5 | 695 |
| #2 | St. Louis-East St. Louis1896 | F4 | 255 |
| #3 | Joplin2011 | EF5 | 158 |
| #4 | Hackleburg-Phil Campbell2011 | EF5 | 71 |
| #5 | Tuscaloosa-Birmingham2011 | EF4 | 64 |
| #6 | Bridge Creek-Moore1999 | F5 | 41 |
| #7 | Oak Grove-Birmingham1998 | F5 | 32 |
| #8 | Saragosa1987 | F4 | 30 |
| #9 | Plainfield1990 | F5 | 29 |
| #10 | Jarrell1997 | F5 | 27 |
What was the deadliest tornado in US history?
The Tri-State tornado of 18 March 1925, which killed 695 people as it crossed Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. It remains the deadliest tornado ever recorded in the United States by a very wide margin, with a death toll more than four times that of the next tornado on this list from the modern record-keeping era.
What is the deadliest tornado since 1950?
The Joplin, Missouri EF5 of 22 May 2011, which killed 158 people. It is the deadliest single tornado since modern national record keeping began, and the deadliest to strike the United States after the introduction of the tornado warning system.
Does a higher rating mean more deaths?
No. A Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating measures the intensity of the damage a tornado caused, not how many people it killed. The 2011 Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado was rated EF4 and killed 64 people, while the 1997 Jarrell tornado was rated F5 and killed 27. What drives a death toll is where the tornado went, how much warning people had, and what shelter was available to them.
Why were older tornadoes so much deadlier?
Because nobody was told they were coming. The 1925 Tri-State tornado struck decades before radar, before the tornado warning system, and at a time when the Weather Bureau discouraged use of the word tornado in forecasts for fear of causing panic. Communities had no advance notice at all, and the tornado arrived as a surprise across more than 200 miles of its path.
Why do so many of the deadliest tornadoes come from 2011?
Because of the April 2011 Super Outbreak, one of the largest tornado outbreaks ever recorded, which produced several violent long-track tornadoes across the Southeast within a single day. Hackleburg-Phil Campbell, Tuscaloosa-Birmingham, Rainsville and Smithville all belong to that outbreak, and Joplin followed a month later in an unrelated event.
Sources & Citations
- National Weather Service. "The Tri-State Tornado of March 18, 1925." Weather.gov
- National Weather Service Springfield, MO. "The Joplin Tornado of May 22, 2011." Weather.gov
- National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). Historical Tornado Records.
- Fatality counts compiled from National Weather Service damage surveys and NCEI storm records.