From May 24–28, 1896, a violent tornado outbreak sequence—considered one of the worst on record—struck much of the United States, killing at least 388 people and injuring 1,490 or more. At least 26 tornadoes occurred, including intense, long-lived families. Retroactively rated F5 on the Fujita scale, the strongest tornado of the outbreak struck Michigan, killing 47 or more people. F4 tornadoes in three other states collectively caused most of the remaining deaths, among them a potent twister that impacted Greater St. Louis, claiming 255 lives and becoming the third-deadliest U.S. tornado on record. Additionally, at least one tornado crossed into Canada, inflicting more damage there. Tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis dubbed the severe weather episode "perhaps the most violent single week of tornado activity in United States history".
Damage from the St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado | |
| Tornado outbreak | |
|---|---|
| Tornadoes | ≥ 26 |
| Maximum rating | F5 tornado |
| Duration | May 24–28, 1896 |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | ≥ 388 |
| Injuries | ≥ 1,490 |
| Damage | > $10,760,000 ($406,680,000 in 2024 USD) |
| Areas affected | Central and Eastern United States, Canada |
Part of the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1896 | |
Confirmed tornadoes
| FU | F0 | F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ? | ? | 1 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 1 | ≥ 26 |
- Possible tornadoes may have hit Kalkaska, Midland, and Wayne counties, Michigan.
Prior to 1990, there is a likely undercount of tornadoes, particularly E/F0–1, with reports of weaker tornadoes becoming more common as population increased. A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar in 1990–1991. 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado (E/F2+) counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments. Numerous discrepancies on the details of tornadoes in this outbreak exist between sources. The total count of tornadoes and ratings differs from various agencies accordingly. The list below documents information from the most contemporary official sources alongside assessments from tornado historian Thomas P. Grazulis.
May 24 event
| F# | Location | County / Parish | State | Time (UTC) | Path length | Width | Damage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F2 | S of Manchester | Delaware | IA | 03:00–? | 3 mi (4.8 km) | Unknown | Unknown | |
| A tornado wrecked a number of barns and a home, possibly killing a person. | ||||||||
| F4 | SW of Polk City to northern Valeria to Mingo | Polk, Jasper | IA | 04:30–? | 28 mi (45 km) | 500 yd (460 m) | Unknown | |
| 21+ deaths – A violent tornado passed north of Des Moines, leveling homes and killing at least 18 people in the Bondurant–Santiago–Valeria area. It caused more deaths at Mingo before dissipating, drove a steel railroad rail 15 ft (4.6 m) into the earth at a spot, and injured 60 people. | ||||||||
| F1 | Unknown | Dallas | IA | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| This tornado belonged to the same family as or was identical with the previous event. | ||||||||
May 25 event
| F# | Location | County / Parish | State | Time (UTC) | Path length | Width | Damage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F4 | NW of Forreston to northern Adeline to S of Egan | Ogle | IL | 07:00–? | 10 mi (16 km) | 200 yd (180 m) | Unknown | |
| 4 deaths – A potent tornado leveled five or more farmhouses and a church, while unroofing other homes. Four family members died near Egan, where a large home was cleanly swept away; "nothing was left on the foundation", according to a report quoted by Grazulis. Five injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F2 | S of Byron | Ogle | IL | 07:30–? | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | |
| A tornado hit a farmstead, flattening all trees and barns. | ||||||||
| F3 | S of Davis Junction to E of Irene | Ogle, Boone, DeKalb | IL | 07:30–? | 15 mi (24 km) | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 3 deaths – An intense tornado shifted a house on its foundation, causing it to collapse, fatally crush three occupants, and injure half a dozen others. Bits of the house were carried 5 mi (8.0 km). A barn was wrecked as well, along with outbuildings on 11 farms. In all 10 injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F3 | Park Ridge | Cook | IL | 07:50–? | 4.5 mi (7.2 km) | 400 yd (370 m) | $100,000 | |
| A tornado headed east from Norwood Park to Edison Park, destroying half a dozen homes and leaving 30 others irreparable. Its severest impact was to the most elevated part of Norwood Park. | ||||||||
| F2 | N of Clio to E of Otter Lake | Genesee, Lapeer | MI | 23:00–? | 14 mi (23 km) | 150 yd (140 m) | Unknown | |
| Described as an "auger-shaped funnel" by witnesses, a tornado destroyed three farmhouses, along with cottages and businesses. It also hit a school, lofting its roof 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km). Four injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F3 | W of Munger to near Fairgrove | Bay, Tuscola | MI | 23:00–? | 10 mi (16 km) | 600 yd (550 m) | Unknown | |
| 1 death – A tornado destroyed five homes, injuring a dozen people in one of them, as well as a school. According to an account, it "lifted and dashed to the ground" another home during a funeral, forcing the 30 attendants to shelter in a nearby ditch. Airborne debris killed an onlooker, and in all 18 injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F3 | W of Sterling Heights (MI) to Mount Clemens (MI) to Canada | Macomb, St. Clair | MI, ON | 01:10–? | 35 mi (56 km) | 200 yd (180 m) | >$60,000 | |
| 2 deaths – A tornado leveled barns and homes in the Utica–Warren area, leaving only part of a farmhouse bedroom intact. It then tore a two-block-wide swath through Mount Clemens, wrecking 30 homes, and destroyed more homes in Harrison Township. The unfinished Mount Clemens Sanatorium (later the Colonial Hotel) was leveled. Passing over Lake St. Clair, it did additional damage in Canada. Grazulis initially rated it F4 in a 1984 study, but downgraded it later. In all 15 injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F5 | N of Holly to Ortonville to Oakwood to W of Dryden | Oakland, Lapeer | MI | 02:00–? | 30 mi (48 km) | 800 yd (730 m) | $400,000 | |
| 47+ deaths — See section on this tornado — 100 injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F2 | Amadore | Sanilac | MI | 02:00–? | 3 mi (4.8 km) | 100 yd (91 m) | Unknown | |
| A tornado damaged the entire community of Amadore, tearing apart a few homes before ending over Lake Huron as a waterspout. Three injuries occurred. | ||||||||
May 27 event
| F# | Location | County / Parish | State | Time (UTC) | Path length | Width | Damage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F2 | N of Sturgeon to N of Centralia | Audrain | MO | 19:35–? | 8 mi (13 km) | 70 yd (64 m) | Unknown | |
| A tornado leveled barns and almost completely tore apart four farmhouses. | ||||||||
| F3 | S of Higbee to S of Renick | Randolph | MO | 20:30–? | 6 mi (9.7 km) | 400 yd (370 m) | Unknown | |
| An intense tornado ripped apart numerous barns and destroyed or damaged eight homes, injuring six people. | ||||||||
| F3 | N of Mexico to W of Vandalia | Audrain | MO | 21:15–? | 17 mi (27 km) | 300 yd (270 m) | Unknown | |
| 6+ deaths – Forming close to the path of an F4 event on May 20, 1891, this tornado hit two schools, killing four or five students and injuring 35 people. It also killed a few more people in farmhouses and injured 50 in all. | ||||||||
| F3 | S of Sheridan to NE of Marshall | Kingfisher, Logan, Garfield | OK | 00:00–? | 10 mi (16 km) | Unknown | Unknown | |
| A tornado shattered one or more houses, injuring a person. | ||||||||
| F4 | SE of Chamois | Osage | MO | 00:15–? | 5 mi (8.0 km) | 150 yd (140 m) | Unknown | |
| 2 deaths – A tornado struck and destroyed a few farms, one of which lost all seven buildings. Three injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F4 | St. Louis (MO) to East St. Louis (IL) | St. Louis (MO), Madison (IL) | MO, IL | 00:30–? | 12 mi (19 km) | 800 yd (730 m) | >$10,000,000 | |
| 255 deaths – See section on this tornado – 1,000 people were injured. | ||||||||
| F4 | New Minden to near Irvington | Washington, Jefferson | IL | 00:20–? | 23 mi (37 km) | 1,000 yd (910 m) | Unknown | |
| 14 deaths – A tornado leveled farms, injuring 50 people. Most of the dead were at New Minden. The tornado tracked through or near Hoyleton, Richview, and Boyd. | ||||||||
| F4 | Near Imbs to New Baden to near Germantown | St. Clair, Clinton | IL | 00:45–? | 30 mi (48 km) | 400 yd (370 m) | Unknown | |
| 24 deaths – A violent tornado family flattened many homes, especially in and around New Baden, where 13 people died. It claimed a dozen more lives near the Birkner and Harmony train stations, as well as another at a farmhouse. 125 injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F3 | NW of Nashville to N of Richview NE of Mount Vernon | Washington, Jefferson | IL | 02:30–? | 28 mi (45 km) | 400 yd (370 m) | Unknown | |
| 3 deaths – An intense tornado ravaged six farms. | ||||||||
| F2 | E of Bellflower | Montgomery, Lincoln | MO | Unknown | 7 mi (11 km) | Unknown | Unknown | |
| 1 death – A tornado destroyed a barn and church, killing a woman and injuring her infant. | ||||||||
May 28 event
| F# | Location | County / Parish | State | Time (UTC) | Path length | Width | Damage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F2 | E of Gettysburg to NE of Hanover | Adams, York | PA | 18:00–? | 13 mi (21 km) | 200 yd (180 m) | Unknown | |
| A tornado hit the Bonneauville–Abbottstown area, wrecking a house and barns. Furniture was found 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km) away. Four injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F2 | W of Wrightsville to northern Columbia | York, Lancaster | PA | 18:30–? | 9 mi (14 km) | 50 yd (46 m) | Unknown | |
| 1 death – A tornado unroofed four homes and a school. It also destroyed three other homes and hit a mill. 20 injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F3 | S of Ambler (PA) to Jarrettown (PA) to Allentown (NJ) | Montgomery (PA), Bucks (PA), Mercer (NJ), Monmouth (NJ) | PA, NJ | 19:55–? | 35 mi (56 km) | 200 yd (180 m) | >$200,000 | |
| 4 deaths – An intermittent, narrow tornado—possibly a family of up to three events—wrecked 16 or more barns and several stables, particularly in the Allentown–White Horse area. 15 injuries occurred. | ||||||||
| F2 | SW of Harney (MD) to near Littlestown (PA) | Carroll (MD), Adams (PA) | MD, PA | 20:00–? | 5 mi (8.0 km) | 200 yd (180 m) | Unknown | |
| A tornado wrecked a house and barns, while unroofing three other homes. | ||||||||
Whigville–Ortonville–Oakwood–Thomas, Michigan
Sketch of the tornado's path in Thomas, Oakland County, from Conger 1896 | |
| F5 tornado | |
|---|---|
| on the Fujita scale | |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | ≥ 47 |
| Injuries | 100 |
| Damage | $400,000 ($15,120,000 in 2024 USD) |
Late in the evening of May 25, this extremely intense tornado touched down in eastern Michigan and moved northeast. It affected portions of Oakland and Lapeer counties northwest of Detroit. Communities affected included Whigville, Ortonville, Oakwood, and Thomas. Farms and homes were leveled or swept away, with whole families being killed. Debris was carried 12 mi (19 km) away, and trees were debarked, with even small twigs stripped bare in some cases, as if by "an experienced artisan". Fragments of a home in Thomas were dispersed up to 10 mi (16 km) away. A piano from that residence was found 200 yd (180 m) away from the foundation, with one end "pounded full of grass". Damage surveyors reported that grass in the center of the circulation was "pounded down into the earth, as if it had been washed into the earth by a heavy flow of water". 22 or more people were killed in Ortonville, 10 in Oakwood, three in Thomas, four north of Oxford, and three in Whigville, along with others in rural areas. Nine of the dead were in a home at Ortonville. Up to seven communities reported deaths. At least 100 people were injured. With 47 deaths, this is the second-deadliest tornado ever in Michigan, trailing only the Flint–Beecher F5 of 1953, which killed 116 in Genesee County just outside Flint.
St. Louis, Missouri/East St. Louis, Illinois
Damage caused by the tornado | |
| F4 tornado | |
|---|---|
| on the Fujita scale | |
| Highest winds | 418 km/h (260 mph) |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 255 |
| Injuries | 1,000 |
| Damage | > $10 million ($377,960,000 in 2024 USD) |
This violent and catastrophic tornado struck the Greater St. Louis area in both Missouri and Illinois, killing 255 people, injuring at least 1,000 more, and causing more than $10 million in damages. It formed just northwest of Tower Grove Park in St. Louis, attended by strong downbursts. At least 137 people died as the tornado traversed the core of the downtown area, leaving a continuous, 1-mile-wide (1.6 km) swath of destroyed homes, schools, saloons, factories, mills, churches, parks, and railroad yards in its wake. Some of destroyed homes were all but completely swept away, but damage to trees and roofs in most areas was less severe. Numerous trees were downed at the 36-acre (0.15 km2) Lafayette Park, and a barometer recorded a drop to 26.74 inHg (906 mb) at this location.
After devastating the city of St. Louis, the tornado crossed the Mississippi River and struck the Eads Bridge, where a 2 in × 10 in (51 mm × 254 mm) wooden plank was found driven through a 5⁄16 in (7.9 mm) wrought iron plate. Uncounted others may have died on boats on the river, which could have swept their bodies downriver where they could not be recorded in the official death toll. The tornado continued into East St. Louis, Illinois, where its path was narrower, but its strength became even more intense. Homes and buildings along the river were completely swept away and a quarter of the buildings there were damaged or destroyed, though many of the structures were frail. An additional 118 people were killed, 35 of whom were at the Vandalia railroad freight yards.
See also
- Tornadoes in Oklahoma
- List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
- St. Louis tornado history
Sources
- Agee, Ernest M.; Childs, Samuel (June 1, 2014). "Adjustments in Tornado Counts, F-Scale Intensity, and Path Width for Assessing Significant Tornado Destruction". Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 53 (6). American Meteorological Society: 1494–1505. doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-13-0235.1.
- Baier, Julius (September 1896). "Low pressure in St. Louis tornado" (PDF). Monthly Weather Review. 24 (9). Washington, D.C.: United States Weather Bureau: 332. Bibcode:1896MWRv...24..332B. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1896)24[332:LPISLT]2.0.CO;2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 25, 2017 – via American Meteorological Society.
- Brooks, Harold E. (April 2004). "On the Relationship of Tornado Path Length and Width to Intensity". Weather and Forecasting. 19 (2): 310–19. Bibcode:2004WtFor..19..310B. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2004)019<0310:OTROTP>2.0.CO;2.
- Conger, Norman B. (June 22, 1896). Written at Detroit. "Report on the tornadoes of May 25 in the state of Michigan". Monthly Weather Review. 24 (5). Washington, D.C.: United States Weather Bureau (published May 1896): 156. Bibcode:1896MWRv...24..156C. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1896)24[156a:ROTTOM]2.0.CO;2. Wikisource.
- Cook, A. R.; Schaefer, J. T. (August 2008). "The Relation of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) to Winter Tornado Outbreaks". Monthly Weather Review. 136 (8): 3121–3137. Bibcode:2008MWRv..136.3121C. doi:10.1175/2007MWR2171.1.
- Cox, Henry J.; Linney, Charles E. (August 7, 1896). "The tornado of May 25, 1896, in Cook County, Ill". Monthly Weather Review. 24 (5). Washington, D.C.: United States Weather Bureau (published May 1896): 168. Bibcode:1896MWRv...24..168.. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1896)24[168:TTOMIC]2.0.CO;2.
- Edwards, Roger; LaDue, James G.; Ferree, John T.; Scharfenberg, Kevin; Maier, Chris; Coulbourne, William L. (May 1, 2013). "Tornado Intensity Estimation: Past, Present, and Future". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 94 (5). American Meteorological Society: 641–653. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00006.1.
- Grazulis, Thomas P. (May 1984). Violent Tornado Climatography, 1880–1982. OSTI (Technical report). NUREG. Washington, D.C.: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. OSTI 7099491. CR-3670.
- — (November 1990). Significant Tornadoes 1880–1989. Vol. 2. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-02-3.
- — (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
- — (2001a). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3538-0.
- — (2001b). F5-F6 Tornadoes. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films.
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