The 10 Worst U.S. Tornadoes

Ranking the Nation's Worst Tornadoes

TWC Severe Weather Expert, Dr. Greg Forbes (Facebook | Twitter) combed through damage costs (adjusted for inflation through 2011) and fatality statistics in order to rank the nation's worst single tornadoes, using a 100-point scale.

Of course, there are many ways one can combine and scale this data, so, this is just one possibility.  The higher the index, the "worse" or more impactful the tornado.

You may be surprised to find that the April 3, 1974 "Superoutbreak" did not have a single tornado on the list. 

"None of the 1974 Superoutbreak tornadoes individually were exceptionally deadly, which kept them off the list," says Dr. Forbes.

We begin our top ten list with a pair of notorious Lone Star State tornadoes.

#10 (tie):  Waco (1953) and Wichita Falls, Texas (1979)

These tornadoes are just two examples debunking the myth that tornadoes don't strike the heart of larger cities.

The Waco tornado carved a path up to 1/3 mile wide through the heart of the city's downtown, reaching F5 intensity the day after Mother's Day, 1953. 

Over 600 businesses, 850 homes and 2,000 cars were either destroyed or damaged.  Some survivors had to wait up to 14 hours to be rescued from the rubble.

The Wichita Falls tornado of April 10, 1979 was one of thirteen tornadoes which rampaged across parts of north Texas and Oklahoma that "Terrible Tuesday." 

This over one mile-wide beast carved through the heart of this city of roughly 100,000.  Almost 3100 homes were destroyed. 

Despite the issuance of severe warnings, coverage by local television stations, and multiple soundings of sirens, 42 were killed, many of which tried to flee in their vehicles.

Next, we detail a single tornado which killed over 300 in the Deep South.

#9:  Natchez, Miss. (May 7, 1840)

While the "Great Natchez Tornado" tied both Waco (1953) and Wichita Falls (1979) in Dr. Forbes' calculations, we place Natchez ahead of the Texas tornadoes based on the death toll.

First consider what wasn't in place in 1840. Electricity wouldn't be invented for another 39 years.  No television, radio, internet, or sirens, either. 

Then, picture Natchez as a bustling river port city, with flatboats galore.  Now, picture a massive wedge tornado, most likely of F5 intensity, bearing down on the city.

The tornado first touched down about 20 miles southwest of Natchez, then hugged the river, hit Natchez Landing, then came ashore tearing through the city itself. 

Of the 317 official deaths, reliable reports suggest 269 of those perished as flatboats were sunk.  This death toll may be forever underestimated, as fatalities from slaves were not counted in that era.  Reportedly a fragment of a steamboat's window was carried 30 miles away.

From the mid-19th century, we now leap to the awful spring of 2011 next.  

#8: Hackleburg, Ala. (Apr. 27, 2011)

One of two billion-dollar tornadoes from the April 27, 2011 "Superoutbreak" took aim on the town of Hackleburg, Ala. (population: 1430)

This tornado, packing peak winds over 200 mph, tossed vehicles 150-200 yards and leveled a well-built four-sided brick home, tossing its debris 40 yards downwind, according to the official damage survey from the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Ala.

On its 132-mile rampage from Marion County, Ala. to Franklin County, Tenn., 72 were killed, and 145 were injured. 

This would have easily been the costliest tornado in Alabama history, if it wasn't for another tornado about 80 miles to the south that same day. More on that later.

We step back to the deadly spring of 1953 for our seventh worst U.S. tornado.

#7: Worcester, Mass. (Jun. 9, 1953)

Deadly, destructive tornadoes are not simply confined to the Midwest and South. Our #7 tornado was, arguably, the worst tornado of record in New England.

Just one day after 115 were killed in a Flint, Michigan F5 tornado, the same weather system spawned this deadly tornado which raked through the north side of the city of Worcester, among other locations in Massachusetts.

The video above shows the destruction at Assumption College (now Quinsigamond Community College). The school's signature tower lost 3 stories. Two and three-story tenements were leveled, particularly in the upper Burncoat area of town. 

In all, 4,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Six of the eight Massachusetts towns impacted reported F4 damage.

Some debris was swept miles away, including a frozen mattress found near Weymouth in Massachusetts Bay as well as books and clothing found at both Blue Hill and on outer Cape Cod.

Next, we visit a tornado which left a scar in a Southern city for years to come.

#6: Gainesville, Ga. (Apr. 6, 1936)

Amazingly, there was another instance of single tornadoes claiming over 100 lives occurring on back-to-back days.

As if the "Dust Bowl" and "Great Depression" weren't enough to worry about, a two-day Southern tornado outbreak culminated in a destructive tornado event in Gainesville, northeast of Atlanta on Apr. 6, 1936.

We say "event" since there were actually two tornadoes, one coming from the west, the other from the southwest, which merged over the city that awful April morning, leaving a four-block wide path of destruction. 

Buildings collapsed as the central business district was almost entirely leveled, including the county courthouse. The collapse and fire of the Cooper Pants factory killed dozens.  Forty people were never found, and are officially deemed as missing.

This disaster occurred just one day after the Tupelo, Miss. tornado claimed 216 lives.  The total death toll from the Apr. 5-6, 1936 two-day tornado outbreak was 454.

Next, we'll visit a city that appears twice in our top ten list.  

#5: St. Louis, Mo. (Sep. 29, 1927)

The "Gateway to the West" has an infamous tornadic history.

The Sep. 29, 1927 tornado carved a twelve mile-long swath of destruction through the heart of St. Louis.  A story written by the Associated Press (AP) the day after described it as "four terrible minutes of a ripping and roaring tornado."

According to the National Weather Service, some non-residential buildings were "completely blown away" while a "few multi-story dwellings were destroyed and partly swept away." The same AP story cited above mentioned "some of the city's finest homes along Lindell Boulevard...were laid waste."

If it wasn't for 2011, this 1927 St. Louis tornado, when adjusted for inflation, would rank as the nation's second costliest tornado.

Speaking of 2011, let's visit perhaps the most infamous tornado of the April 27 "Superoutbreak" next.

#4: Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Apr. 27, 2011)

Arguably the most destructive single tornado of a record-setting day during which 200 tornadoes spun across the Southeast was a massive tornado which churned through Tuscaloosa, Ala. on April 27, 2011.

Among the numerous buildings destroyed by the EF4 tornado were the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Operations Center and Alberta Elementary School.

According to the National Weather Service damage survey, "One home on a foundation was swept clean, with only floor joists remaining attached to the foundation."

(PHOTOS/RECAP:  Apr. 27 outbreak | Before/after imagery)

The tornado also produced EF4 damage in the Concord and Pleasant Grove communities west of Birmingham, Ala. Some cinder block homes were completely swept away, leaving only vacant slabs.

Incredibly, tornado warnings were posted for this single supercell in central Alabama for over 4 hours! In fact, the parent supercell was tracked for over 7 hours from its formation in Newton County, Miss. to its final demise in Macon County, N.C., a distance of around 380 miles.

We didn't forget about another notorious tornado from 2011.

#3:  Joplin, Mo. (May 22, 2011)

Just when we all thought the spring of 2011 couldn't be more violent, one single, mammoth tornado left Joplin, Mo. staggered.

A mile-wide, EF5 tornado with peak winds over 200 mph, tore a six-mile long gash through the heart of the city of about 50,000 the afternoon of May 22, 2011.

(PHOTOS:  Damage photos | Before/after satellite imagery)

The sheer scope of the damage was beyond belief. Neighborhoods were left unrecognizable, including the destruction at St. John's Mercy Hospital and Joplin High School.  The tornado generated roughly 4.1 million cubic yards of residential and commercial debris!

(PHOTOS:  Joplin Builds a New Hospital)

In addition to the residential dwellings mentioned above in "fast facts", more than 500 businesses were affected, impacting between 4,500 and 5,000 employees.  Over 15,000 vehicles including buses, vans, and semis were tossed up to several blocks away, either crushed, rolled into balls, or wrapped around trees beyond recognition.  Some owners never found their vehicles!

Even when correcting past U.S. tornadoes for inflation, the Joplin tornado became the costliest single tornado in U.S. history ($2.8 billion).

What tornado could possibly be "worse" than what Joplin endured in 2011?  

We next make a return visit to a city previously highlighted in the countdown.

#2: St. Louis, Mo. (May 27, 1896)

Yes, another St. Louis tornado made our top 10 worst tornado list!

This massive tornado moved from Tower Grove Park into Downtown St. Louis, then crossed the Mississippi River and carved through E. St. Louis, on May 27, 1896.

Prior to the Joplin tornado in 2011, when adjusting for inflation, this late 19th century tornado qualified as the costliest in U.S. history. 

Over 8,800 buildings were either damaged or destroyed. The Eads Bridge lost about 300 feet of its eastern approach, but otherwise survived. After an 1871 tornado damaged its superstructure on its eastern abutment, the bridge was rebuilt to be "tornado-proof".

The 255 official fatalities make this the third deadliest single tornado in U.S. history, behind only the Natchez, Miss. 1840 tornado and our #1 worst U.S. tornado.

Incidentally, the nation's costliest thunderstorm also occurred in St. Louis.

On April 10, 2001, a supercell thunderstorm unleashed a hailstorm in the city, with up to 3" diameter hail (larger than baseballs).

Insured losses alone were $2.3 billion, including at least 40,000 auto insurance claims and tens of thousands of property insurance claims. Vehicles were damaged at a Ford Motor plant, and both commercial and military aircraft were damaged at airports.

Next...Dr. Forbes' single worst U.S. tornado.

#1: "Tri-State Tornado" (Mar. 18, 1925)

Given the more recent devastation we've witnessed in Joplin, Mo. and Tuscaloosa, Ala., it's hard to fathom anything worse.

That said, according to our statistics, the infamous "Tri-State Tornado" of 1925 takes the top spot by a wide margin.

First, the death toll was double that of the next deadliest U.S. tornado (Natchez, Miss. in 1840). 

Of the 695 total fatalities, 234 of those were in the town of Murphysboro, Ill., the single greatest tornado death toll in any U.S. city.

Tragically, 33 other deaths occurred at a school in De Soto, Ill.  There were at least 9 total tornadoes on this March day, claiming a total of 747 lives in 7 states (Kan., Mo., Ill., Ind., Ala., Tenn., Ky.).

Then, there's the incredible path. Due to data quality issues in the 1920s, it hardly seems possible a tornado could churn over a 219-mile long path. 

An exhaustive 2013 reanalysis by retired National Severe Storms Laboratory researchers such as Bob Maddox, Chuck Doswell and Don Burgess, as well as retired and current Storm Prediction Center and National Weather Service meteorologists concluded the tornado path was likely continuous for at least 174 miles, from Madison County, Missouri to Pike County, Indiana.

The culprit appears to have been a single classic, then high-precipitation long-track supercell possibly near a warm-front/dryline intersection, according to the study. 

(WATCH: Mike Bettes Explains Types of Supercells)

Remaining in a favorable environment, the Tri-State tornado continued for over three hours, with an average width of 0.75 mile, and an average forward speed of 59 mph.

"The main tornado contained multiple vortices, at times, and appeared to have had at least two satellite tornadoes in Illinois," says severe weather expert, Dr. Greg Forbes. 

In an era without television, watches or warnings, news traveled by word of mouth or from the local newspaper, an especially frightening thought given the speed of movement of this tornado.

At least 19 separate communities were affected. Gorham, Ill. and Griffin, Ind. were totally destroyed. Ninety percent of Annapolis, Mo. and Parrish, Ill. were destroyed. Parrish was never rebuilt, becoming, in essence, a tornadic "ghost town." An estimated 15,000 homes were demolished.

On Twitter:  Dr. Greg Forbes | Jonathan Erdman