What Was the “Tri-State Tornado?”

(Source: NOAA)

While the three most active months of the year in the United States for severe weather and tornadoes are April, May and June, the month of March is also important.  In fact, the deadliest tornado on record in the United States occurred in March almost 100 years ago.  There have been several significant severe weather outbreaks in March more recently.  

A deadly tornado outbreak earlier this month on March 3 claimed 23 lives in Beauregard, Alabama.  Another deadly March severe weather outbreak in the United States was in 2012.  There were over 130 tornadoes on March 2, 2012 as part of an outbreak that produced nearly 700 total cases of severe weather (hail 1”/+ in diameter, wind gusts of at least 58 mph or a tornado).  This severe weather outbreak covered an unusually large geographic area from Texas to West Virginia.  The deadliest tornado during this outbreak was on the ground for 34 miles in Kentucky where eight lives were lost.

The “Atlanta Outbreak” occurred on March 15, 2008 and a total of 51 tornadoes developed.  These tornadoes caused one fatality and 19 injuries.  Tornadoes can strike urban and suburban areas just as easily as rural ones.  Over just the last two decades, there have been tornadoes in major urban areas such as Nashville, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Chicago and even Los Angeles. 

A total of 20 fatalities were reported in a March 1, 2007 severe weather outbreak that spanned from Illinois to Florida.  Nearly six dozen tornadoes occurred during this event.  Meanwhile, a year earlier another significant severe weather outbreak occurred on March 12, 2006.  Of the nearly 700 severe weather reports, 140 of them were tornadoes that were concentrated in Missouri and Illinois.  These tornadoes claimed four lives and caused 90 injuries.

The “Tri-State Tornado” as it was dubbed occurred on March 18, 1925.  It had a long track across parts of Illinois, Missouri and Indiana.  At one point, this tornado was estimated to have attained F5 intensity on the Fujita Scale with wind speeds of greater than 300 mph.  It leveled everything in its path and became the deadliest tornado on record with 695 fatalities.  According to the National Weather Service, this tornado was on the ground for three and a half hours and destroyed 15,000 homes.

Severe weather is more common along the U.S. Gulf Coast in March.  That’s because the weather in March tends to be warmer and more humid the farther south and east you travel.  Later in the spring as the continental United States sees milder temperatures, severe weather becomes more common over a larger geographic area.