deadliest tornado in us history

deadliest tornado in us history

The Deadliest Tornado in US History: Causes, Impacts, and Lessons Learned

1. Introduction to Tornadoes and Historical Context

Many tragic and notable tornadoes are associated with supercell thunderstorms, which are large-scale mesocyclonic convection. These 1073 km wide thunderstorms are responsible for 40% of the fatal tornadoes in the United States, and they are significant contributors to the most significant hailstorms, which can be categorized by diameter. Moreover, when conditions are favorable, several organized supercell thunderstorms are a major severe storm outbreak and can destabilize a considerable area. Due to excessive nocturnal activities, which peak at midnight, supercells are the cause of over 50% of nighttime fatalities from all types of daily convective storms.

Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air in contact with the Earth’s surface and cumulonimbus clouds. They are convective in origin and usually occur in association with severe thunderstorms. While producing mostly destruction and death, tornadoes are relatively small systems with diameters of between 100 and 500 meters, and a life cycle from several minutes to a few hours. Tornadoes are common across the central United States during the months of April, May, and June, where more than 1200 tornadoes alone occur. The reason is that the United States’ Central Plains experience dramatic variation in temperature and moisture during these months, with much of the variance playing out at low altitudes. Particularly, the differences between large-scale evolution of the temperature, and strength and direction of upper-level winds, hemispheric circulation cells drive more or fewer large and moderate severe storm outbreaks.

2. The Tri-State Tornado of 1925: Overview and Impact

The tornado started in Ellington, Missouri, eventually leaving a trail of devastation that was nearly a mile wide as it moved along the ground at an average speed of 62 mph (100 km/h). At 2:05 pm CST, the most significant tornado damage and subsequent largest loss of life in a single community occurred in the town of Murphysboro, Illinois. After passing through Murphysboro, the tornado moved eastward, passing just south of Marion, Illinois, ultimately striking the suburb of Parrish around 4:30 pm CST. The last significant instances of tornado damage occurred as the tornado left the suburban communities of Griffin and Waverly in Indiana and dissipated at 4:53 pm CST.

The 1925 Tri-State tornado was the deadliest tornado in the history of the world. It was also the most costly tornado at the time, with $16.5 million in losses. It was on the ground for 219 miles and killed at least 695 people. On March 18, 1925, the tornado left a nearly three-mile-wide scar of devastation across Illinois and southern Indiana, and into Missouri. The Fujita scale did not yet exist, so meteorologists did not know how strong the tornado was in the wind speeds. If the Monticello and Murphysboro tornadic damage tracks are considered one tornado, the 1925 Tri-State tornado is the single longest known tornado track in the world (219 miles).

3. Factors Contributing to the Severity of the Disaster

4. Political Factors Some citizens advocated using a portion of the federal government income tax to fund the wire survival warning system. In the interim, the electric power companies ought to be compelled to financially subsidize the UNU system as a way to both provide the desired and needed public service and aid their political stance. Radio button communication had the potential for giving political direction to affected citizens, prompting prompt shelter seeking and protecting life. Political conservatives advocated it as a way of checking the trend in the press towards sensationalism and socialistic bias.

3. Contextual Factors The Tri-State disaster unfolded in the context of a very large and rapidly changing nation. This context comprises: (1) Building construction and design practices, (2) urban area growth in anticipation of expanding mass motor vehicle transportation, (3) long distance electrical wireless communication and alerting, (4) then prevailing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors concerning the protection of life during tornado disasters, and (5) the politics of communications regulation.

2. Geospatial Factors The sequential and overall size of the affected towns made the return time and dead time for citizens far too short. In most cases, the shortest route to take advantage of the limited opportunities for refuge was blocked by debris or the imminent arrival of the tornado. The close proximity of collapsing walls, flying missiles, and fires during the passage of the tornado through almost all of the affected towns helped produce a lethal level of destruction and truly made escape from points such as schools, churches, and business districts a daunting and often lethal task. The natural topography in some of the larger affected towns did not allow the citizens a clear view of the approaching tornado, still leaving a sense of surprise as the winds suddenly and ferociously arrived.

1. Introductory Remark This section of the encyclopedia article explores factors contributing to the severity of destruction in the 1925 Tri-State tornado disaster. These factors are classified as geospatial, contextual, and political. The intent is to recognize the possible reasons behind the great magnitude of the destruction and discuss them in a comprehensive manner. The donor-sponsor’s views are not included in this article.

4. Response and Recovery Efforts

The attributes and effectiveness of local work groups tended to be highly heterogeneous in the knowledge and efforts used before, during, and soon after the tornado. Some described well-coordinated work crews, while in stark contrast, others portrayed work groups that accomplished little due to a combination of extensive tornado damage coupled with a general lackadaisical approach that involved much smoking, drinking, and joking. Pertinent factors that are beneficial for successful outcomes included pre-tornado planning for extraordinary hazards and coordination, high levels of readiness and effectiveness of core response and recovery elements, timely and meaningful early-warning alerts, readily available food, water, medical care, surviving support structures, rapid clearing of debris from roadways and bridges, and rapid resumption of critical communications and transportation infrastructures.

Many of the written records of the response and recovery operations of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado were destroyed during the tornado. Nevertheless, we are able to glean a degree of understanding of the response and recovery actions from numerous newspaper accounts. First-person narratives over the ensuing years have allowed us insights into the human behavior associated with the tornado event. One of the recurring findings of tornado research is the wide variation in helping behavior identified by field observers post-tornadoes. Some studies have classified storm survivors as either aiding others, showing no interest in aiding others, or as hindering others.

5. Lessons Learned and Preparedness for Future Tornadoes

Encouraging people to conduct family tornado drills and having them create a personal safety plan serve a critically important purpose: no scene is sadder than implementing a shift of tornado warnings accompanied by the admonition that people must immediately seek the safety of a well-built structure when the occupants of many homes have never given the matter even thirty seconds thought. The family tornado drill should include ways to avoid the particularly dangerous situation which commonly precedes violent tornadoes. Practices must recognize that none of us are immortal. In 1953, another violent outbreak occurred, and an inquiry was made about the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. Told that Sunday worship services were taking place, a finder expressed disbelief: “This is Saturday — what are they doing in church on Saturday?” “You better find a church if you can,” came the reply, “You’ll need it in the morning.” Some people feel powerless and do not even try to create their personal safety plan because they believe they will only live through a tornado if they are lucky. We cannot promise that every family will survive every tornado if they take adequate precautions, but it is certain that they will be far, far luckier than they would be were they to be unprepared. It is impossible to be both lucky and unlucky at the same time.

The 1925 Tri-State episode provides valuable lessons we ignore at our peril. Tornado forecasts have improved substantially since Hill’s time, and tornado warning procedures have become increasingly refined. People often fail to realize that these advances have taken place, failing to pay attention to warnings or failing to act appropriately when properly warned. Similarly, Hill’s supercell work reminds us to respect supercells which form within damaging environments and to recognize such situations as particularly threatening. Improvements in tornado detection and warnings notwithstanding, a consistent shortcoming in any tornado warning system remains where people will go when warned. We have no guarantee that any structure is completely safe from any tornado, but it is certain that some places are much safer than others, and the tools exist to identify those lies of greater relative safety with useful precision.