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.
Per the SPC, 9 tornadoes occurred on April 5, 1954 all in KS, MO and IA. The strongest for the day was given a rating of F4. Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes has a rating of F3 and notes there was “near-F4 damage”.
In 2021, many of us watched as storms tore apart lives and communities across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky. After events of this magnitude, images depicting seas of wreckage where homes and businesses once stood can blind us to the true nature of the loss at hand. Ranging from six days to 98 years of age, a total of 92 people lost their lives during the tornado event. They were cherished as friends or family by thousands. This article details the stories of every one of those people, as well as all of the 23 significant tornadoes that formed during this event.
9 tornadoes were confirmed on December 8, 1966. All but two were in the state of Missouri. One that traveled through parts of Washington County was given a rating of F3.
6 tornadoes are found in the SPC Database for December 4, 1956. Two were in Kansas (both given a rating of F)), the rest in the state of Missouri (all rated F2). We look at one of these Missouri tornadoes in this summary.
The state of Missouri was hit by 17 tornadoes on December 31, 2010. Three were given a rating of EF-3. We look at one of those in this summary. It tracked 7.5 miles over Fort Leonard Wood in Pulaski County.
An estimated F4 tornado moved through parts of Iron and Washington Counties in Missouri during the early AM of December 21, 1967. It began south of Viburnum. There were 3 fatalities.
A total of 40 tornadoes are a part of the SPC Database, December 14-15, 1971. Most that occurred on the 15th were during the early AM hours. We look at one of those in this summary. It was given a rating of F2 and had an intermittent path of 22+ miles through from Bell City to Scott City in Missouri.
This summary looks at an F2 tornado with a long, skipping path through parts of SW Missouri on December 14, 1971. The tornado developed just south of Billings.
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