Over its history, the St. Louis area has been a tornado hotbed, with numerous funnels making their presence known. Dating back as far as the early 1870s to 2025, many proved deadly and catastrophic, while others were only a footnote in history. In this summary, we discuss the sixteen twisters officially documented within St. Louis proper.
A rare winter tornado plowed through the city of St. Louis, MO, in the dead of night on February 10, 1959. It traveled close to 28 miles at an estimated 50-60 mph speed, leaving behind collapsed buildings and littered streets. Sadly, 21 precious souls lost their lives, and 345 were injured.
Between February 5-6, 2008, a historic record-breaking swarm of 86 twisters swept across large portions of the South and Midwest. The event became known as the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak, as it began on a day when the focus was supposed to be on 24 U.S. states hosting their presidential primary elections. Meanwhile, the deadliest outbreak in nearly 23 years stole the spotlight, killing 57 people and injuring many more in four states. This summary will focus on the last of ten killer funnels.
An overview page for the devastating February 21-22, 1971 Mississippi Delta outbreak.
This is the third of a three-part series focusing on the Delhi, LA-Inverness, MS F5 tornado of February 21, 1971. This summary explores the twister’s trek through Inverness and Moorhead, the most densely populated locations struck during the Delta outbreak.
The second of the “big three” twisters in the 1971 Delta Outbreak was the deadliest United States tornado of the 1970s. In fact, it was the last to cause more than 50 fatalities in the country until 2011. This vortex struck no major population centers, but its longevity and ferocity were of the kind that is rarely matched. The profoundly moving accounts we have compiled tell the story of what is nationally the worst single tornado track of the late 20th century.
This is the second of a three-part series focusing on the Delhi, LA-Inverness, MS F5 tornado of February 21, 1971. This summary explores the twister at the height of its power in rural farmland, from the state border with Mississippi through Cameta plantation, Delta City, and up to the Isola area.
Only three weeks before a major outbreak would hit the Mississippi Delta, a small but devastating tornado event would occur. In the blink of an eye, a dedicated city of Grenada police officer lost his entire family. We had the honor to interview that police officer, Christopher Columbus Hankins, for an update to this summary.
This is the first of a three part series focusing on the Delhi, LA-Inverness, MS F5 tornado of February 21, 1971. This summary explores the beginning of the twister in Louisiana up to the state border with Mississippi.
The last of the “big three” in the 1971 Delta Outbreak, this twister stayed in rural land across its 70-mile trek. It devastated the tiny community of Little Yazoo. Twelve people were killed by this relatively obscure tornado.
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