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.
Main writer Nick Wilkes digs into 2 (or maybe 3) significant tornadoes that occurred in Georgia and South Carolina on March 31, 1973.
It is known as the “Candlestick Park” tornado, named after a shopping center in south Jackson, MS which was completely destroyed. Per the SPC, the path length was 202.5 miles. It moved through portions of MS and then into AL. The max width was 900 yards. There were 518 injuries and 58 fatalities reported. 57 deaths in MS and 1 in AL.
A long-track, killer tornado moved 68.04 miles through portions of Alabama and Georgia on this day in 2019. 23 were killed in Lee County, AL. A total of 40 tornadoes were confirmed and the Beauregard/Smiths Station/Talbotton tornado was the strongest with a rating of EF4. This was the first violent tornado to hit Lee County, AL since March 20, 1875.
An EF3 tornado traveled 84.99 miles through parts of KY and WV in 2012. The max width was 1580 yards. There were 118 reported injuries and 10 fatalities.
At 12:47pm CST on March 1, 2007, a tornado warning was issued for Coffee County, AL including the City of Enterprise.
39 tornadoes were confirmed on March 1, 2007. We look at a strong twister, given a rating of EF-3 that moved through parts of Webster, Sumter, and Macon Counties in Georgia. The town of Americus was hard hit.
Nine tornadoes occurred on March 31, 1959. 6 were in Oklahoma, 2 in Texas and 1 in Arkansas. One of the strongest, and the deadliest, was given a rating of F4. It moved 10.4 miles through parts of Hill County, TX.
Per the SPC Database, 7 tornadoes occurred on this day in 2016. One in KS, 2 in Arkansas and 4 in Oklahoma. The strongest tornadoes of the day were rated EF2 and were found in Eastern OK. This summary will take a look at those 2-EF2s, one of which moved through the northern parts of Tulsa.
16 tornadoes occurred on this day in 1998. 2 in Wisconsin (both rated F0) and 14 in the state of Minnesota. This was the largest March occurrence of tornadoes in the state of Minnesota on record. Per the NWS Twin Cities, prior to 1998, there were only 7 tornadoes known to have hit the state in March.
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