St. Louis tornado history

There is a long history of destructive tornadoes in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The third-deadliest, and the costliest in United States history, the 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado, injured more than one thousand people and caused at least 255 fatalities in the City of St. Louis and in East St. Louis. The second-costliest tornado also occurred in St. Louis in September 1927.^[1] More tornado fatalities occurred in St. Louis than any other city in the United States.^[2] Also noteworthy is that destructive tornadoes occur in winter and autumn, as well as the typical months of spring.^[3] Additionally, damaging tornadoes occur in the morning and late at night, as well as the more common late afternoon to early evening maximum period.

In April 2011, an EF4 tornado on Good Friday caused widespread damage along a 22 mi (35 km) track across the northern part of the St. Louis metropolitan area; including significant damage to Lambert International Airport, causing a complete shutdown for over 24 hours, but no deaths.^[4] Prior to that event, a F4 tornado also struck the northern metro, and killed three in January 1967.^[5] Another F4 tornado struck the Granite City and Edwardsville, Illinois area in April 1981.^[6] During a major outbreak in December 2021, two tornadoes in the metro area killed 7 people.^[7] An EF3 tornado caused extensive damage to western and northwestern portions of the city, including Forest Park, on the afternoon of May 16, 2025, resulting in 5 fatalities and 38 injuries.

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Date	Location	Rating	Casualties	Notes
March 8, 1871	St. Louis - East St. Louis - St. Clair County, Illinois	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 - St. Clair County	F4	255 fatalities, 1000 injuries	Costliest^[1] and third-deadliest tornado in U.S. history (see: 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado)^[9]
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	2nd-costliest.^[1] and among top 30 deadliest tornado in U.S. history^[10] (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	Very similar path to 1871, 1896, 1927 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	Late-March 2007 tornado outbreak^[11]
December 31, 2010	North St. Louis	EF1	0 fatalities	2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak^[12]
April 22, 2011	Riverview, St. Louis	EF4	0 fatalities, some injuries	2011 St. Louis tornado during tornado outbreak sequence of April 19–24, 2011^[4]
April 10, 2013	The Hill, St. Louis	EF0	0 fatalities	^[13]
May 31, 2013	Riverview, St. Louis	EF3	2 injuries	St. Charles County to St. Louis County to extreme northern St. Louis City at 32.5 mi (52.3 km) over 35 min with max width 1 mi (1.6 km)^[14] (see: Tornado outbreak of May 26–31, 2013)
May 16, 2025	Wydown/Skinker, Forest Park, DeBaliviere Place, The Ville, Greater Ville	EF3	5 fatalities, 38 injuries	2025 St. Louis tornado

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes^[15]
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			Tornado outbreak of March 27, 1890
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	Tornado outbreak sequence of May 1896
May 14, 1909		St. Louis
September 29, 1927		St. Louis	F3	72-79+ fatalities, 550+ injuries	Tornado outbreak of September 29, 1927
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

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Casualties	Notes
January 3, 1950		St. Louis	F3
May 24, 1952		St. Clair			Tornado outbreak of May 21–24, 1952
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
August 30, 1956		St. Louis
September 15, 1956		St. Clair
April 25, 1957		St. Clair
May 9, 1957		St. Louis
May 21, 1957		St. Clair			May 1957 Central Plains tornado outbreak sequence
May 22, 1957		St. Louis			May 1957 Central Plains tornado outbreak sequence
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 Florissant, MO	St. Louis	F0	None	St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959: Minor damage to homes.
February 10, 1959	Sherman, MO, Warson Woods, MO	St. Louis	F4	21 fatalities, 345 injuries	St. Louis tornado outbreak of February 1959: Damaged or destroyed numerous structures, ripped part of the roof of the St. Louis Arena, and blew down a TV tower before causing catastrophic damage in Downtown St. Louis.
May 10, 1959		St. Clair

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	Fourth-worst tornado in history to hit the St. Louis Metropolitan Area, last F4 tornado to affect St. Louis County or City until April 22, 2011. See 1967 St. Louis tornado outbreak.^[5]
August 3, 1967	St. Clair
October 24, 1967	St. Louis
April 3, 1968	St. Clair
May 15, 1968	St. Clair			Tornado outbreak of May 1968
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

Date	Location	Counties	Rating	Notes
April 7, 1980	St. Charles	St. Charles & St. Louis	F3	A tornado causing F3 damaged affected St. Louis and St. Charles counties producing 2.5 million dollars 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		Tornado outbreak sequence of May 6–27, 1995
May 18, 1995		St. Clair
May 18, 1995		St. Clair
April 19, 1996		St. Clair		Tornado outbreak sequence of April 1996
June 10, 1996		St. Louis
April 13, 1998		St. Louis
April 15, 1998		St. Clair, Madison		Tornado outbreak of April 15–16, 1998
April 15, 1998		St. Clair		Tornado outbreak of April 15–16, 1998

St. Louis tornado history

City of St. Louis tornadoes

Greater St. Louis-area tornadoes

1870–1950

1950s

1960–1980

1980–2000

2000—present

See also

References

External links

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