The
St. Louis metropolitan area has a history of
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
es. 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
St. Louis Lambert International Airport is the primary commercial airport serving metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, it is the largest and busiest airport in the state of ...
, 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
NWS list of tornadoes in City of St. Louis
/ref>
Greater St. Louis-area tornadoes
These tables describe the tornado history for Greater St. Louis
Greater St. Louis is a bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city. It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois. The city core is on the Mississippi Riverfront on t ...
. In Missouri, this includes the counties of St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, St. Charles, Franklin
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* Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
, and Jefferson Jefferson may refer to:
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* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
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* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
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. In Illinois, this includes the counties of Madison Madison may refer to:
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* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
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, 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—present
See also
* List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
** List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
These are some notable tornadoes, tornado outbreaks, and tornado outbreak sequences that have occurred in North America.
#''The listing is U.S.-centric, with greater and more consistent information available for U.S. tornadoes. Some North Americ ...
** List of tornado-related deaths at schools
These are all known tornadoes resulting in student deaths at primary and secondary schools in the United States from 1865 to 2015. For the deadliest tornado incidents, only fires/explosions and bombings have killed more students.
List
* August ...
** List of tornadoes striking downtown areas
This article is a list of tornadoes that have impacted the central business district (downtown or city center) of a large city (that is, one having at least 50,000 people, not counting suburbs or outlying communities, at the time of the storm).
I ...
* Tri-State Hailstorm of April 2001
NWS summary
* July 2006 derechoes
NWS summary
References
*
*
* National Climatic Data Center
Storm Events Database
an
External links
National Weather Service St. Louis Tornado Climatology
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. Louis Tornado History
History of St. Louis
History of St. Louis County, Missouri
Tornadoes in Missouri