St. Louis, MO F4 Tornado – January 24, 1967

Stats

Path length: 25 miles

Width: 200 yards

Fatalities: 3

Injuries: 216

Rating: F4

County: St. Louis

Tornado Path

Click Map To Enlarge

SPC coordinates: Start: 38.68 / -90.55 End: 38.82 / -90.12

Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.

Summary

Thirty tornadoes were reported across parts of four states on January 24, 1967. Two in Missouri were given an F4 rating. This summary focuses on what the National Weather Service deems the 4th worst tornado in history to hit the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. It is also the last F4 tornado to affect St. Louis.

The tornado developed in the western portion of St. Louis County near the Howard Bend Pumping Station. The twister moved to the northeast, and per the NWS Storm Data Narrative, it had a “skipping path of major destruction.” Damage was reported at the Chesterfield Manor Nursing Home. The tornado crossed through numerous subdivisions and heavily populated communities. A total of 168 homes were destroyed, and 258 sustained major damage. 600 businesses were destroyed/damaged. 216 people were injured, and there were three fatalities.

Wed, Jan 25, 1967 – Page 1 · St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com

Sun, Jan 29, 1967 – Page 12 · St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com

Damage Photos via The NWS St. Louis

Videos

Newspaper Clippings

Wed, Jan 25, 1967 – Page 12 · St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com

Wed, Jan 25, 1967 – Page 1 · Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, Illinois) · Newspapers.com

Wed, Jan 25, 1967 – Page 1 · Daily World (Opelousas, Louisiana) · Newspapers.com

Wed, Jan 25, 1967 – Page 53 · St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com

Wed, Jan 25, 1967 – Page 1 · Daily World (Opelousas, Louisiana) · Newspapers.com

Wed, Jan 25, 1967 – Page 11 · St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com

Discrepancies:

We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the January 1967 Storm Data Publication and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:

Path Length:

SPC/NCDC have a 25 mile path.
Storm Data & Grazulis have a length of 21 miles.

Sources:

The Storm Prediction Center

NCDC Storm Events Database

January 1967 Storm Data Publication

Overview of the event from the NWS St. Louis

newspapers.com

Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1087.

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