St. Louis tornado history


The St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area has a history of tornadoes. 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. More tornado fatalities occurred in St. Louis than any other city in the United States. Also noteworthy is that destructive tornadoes occurred in winter and autumn, as well as the typical months of spring. Additionally, damaging tornadoes occurred 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 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. Prior to that event, a F4 tornado also struck the northern metro, and killed three in January 1967. Another F4 tornado struck the Granite City and Edwardsville, Illinois area in April 1981.

City of St. Louis tornadoes

DateLocationRatingCasualtiesNotes
March 8, 1871St. Louis - East St. Louis - St. Clair County, IllinoisF39 fatalities, 60 injuriesSee: 1871 St. Louis tornado
March 29, 18727th StreetF12 possible fatalities, 8 injuries
January 12, 1890St. Louis - Madison County, IllinoisF24 fatalities, 15 injuries
May 27, 1896St. Louis - East St. Louis - St. Clair CountyF4255 fatalities, 1000 injuriesCostliest and third-deadliest tornado in U.S. history
August 19, 1904St. Louis - Madison CountyF23 fatalities, 10 injuries
September 29, 1927Webster Groves - St. LouisF372-79+ fatalities, 550+ injuries2nd-costliest. and among top 30 deadliest tornado in U.S. history
September 16, 1958St. LouisF10 fatalities
February 10, 1959Crescent - St. Louis - Madison CountyF421 fatalities, 345 injuriesVery similar path to 1871, 1896, 1927 tornadoes.
May 1, 1983St. Louis - Madison CountyF23 injuries
March 31, 2007Midtown St. LouisEF05 injuriesLate-March 2007 tornado outbreak
December 31, 2010North St. LouisEF10 fatalities2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak
April 22, 2011Riverview, St. LouisEF40 fatalities, some injuries2011 St. Louis tornado during tornado outbreak sequence of April 19–24, 2011
April 10, 2013The Hill, St. LouisEF00 fatalities
May 31, 2013Riverview, St. LouisEF32 injuriesSt. Charles County to St. Louis County to extreme northern St. Louis City at over 35 min with max width

Greater St. Louis-area tornadoes

These tables describe the tornado history for Greater St. Louis. In Missouri, this includes the counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Franklin, and Jefferson. In Illinois, this includes the counties of Madison, St. Clair, and Monroe. Data for the independent city of St. Louis is not part of these tables unless part of the path of the tornado striking these counties also struck the city.

1870–1950

1950s

1960–1980

1980–2000

2000—