Tornadoes
The most violent storms on the planet — the tornadoes and outbreaks that tore across Tornado Alley and beyond.
Part of Natural Disasters
50 moments in this segment.
- — The 1840 Natchez tornado. The second-deadliest tornado in U.S. history struck Natchez, Mississippi, along the river, killing over 300.
- — The 1880 Marshfield tornado. A tornado destroyed Marshfield, Missouri, one of the deadliest of the 19th century.
- — The 1896 St. Louis tornado. A tornado tore through St. Louis and East St. Louis, one of the deadliest and costliest in U.S. history.
- — The 1966 Belmond tornado. A tornado destroyed much of the Iowa town of Belmond in 1966.
- — The 1991 Andover tornado. An F5 tornado near Andover, Kansas, was one of the first violent tornadoes captured on home video.
- — The 1997 Jarrell tornado. A slow, violent F5 tornado obliterated the town of Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 in one of the most intense tornadoes ever documented.
- — The Greensburg tornado. An EF5 tornado destroyed 95% of Greensburg, Kansas, which rebuilt itself as a green town.
- — The 2008 Super Tuesday outbreak. A tornado outbreak struck the U.S. South on the 2008 primary-election 'Super Tuesday', killing 57.
- — The Parkersburg tornado. An EF5 tornado destroyed Parkersburg, Iowa, in 2008.
- — The 2008 Hautmont tornado. A rare, violent tornado struck the northern French town of Hautmont in 2008.
- — The Tri-State Tornado. The deadliest tornado in U.S. history tore 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 695.
- — The 1984 Barneveld tornado. A nighttime F5 tornado nearly wiped the Wisconsin village of Barneveld off the map in 1984.
- — The 2011 Super Outbreak. The largest tornado outbreak in history spawned 360 tornadoes across the U.S. South in three days, killing over 320.
- — The 2011 Hackleburg tornado. The deadliest tornado of the 2011 Super Outbreak, an EF5, tore across northern Alabama, killing 72.
- — The Tuscaloosa–Birmingham tornado. A massive tornado tore through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Alabama, filmed live on television.
- — The 2011 Joplin tornado. An EF5 tornado tore directly through Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 — the deadliest single U.S. tornado since modern records began.
- — The 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville outbreak. A tornado outbreak devastated Tupelo, Mississippi (Elvis's hometown) and Gainesville, Georgia.
- — The 1965 Palm Sunday outbreak. An outbreak of 47 tornadoes struck the U.S. Midwest, killing over 250 and spurring modern warning systems.
- — The 2013 Brahmanbaria tornado. A tornado struck the Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh, killing dozens.
- — The 2013 Moore tornado. An EF5 tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, again, destroying two schools and killing 24.
- — The 2013 El Reno tornado. The widest tornado ever recorded — 4.2 km across — struck near El Reno, Oklahoma, killing storm chasers for the first time.
- — The El Reno tornado. The widest tornado ever recorded — 2.6 miles across — struck near El Reno, Oklahoma, killing veteran storm chasers.
- — The 2014 Vilonia tornado. A violent tornado struck Vilonia and Mayflower, Arkansas, in 2014.
- — The Pilger twin tornadoes. Two violent tornadoes touched down side by side near Pilger, Nebraska, in 2014, a rare and dramatic sight.
- — The 1955 Udall tornado. A nighttime tornado destroyed Udall, Kansas, in 1955, the deadliest in the state's history.
- — The 1990 Plainfield tornado. A rare August F5 struck near Plainfield, Illinois, with no warning, killing 29.
- — The 2019 Havana tornado. A rare, powerful tornado tore through Havana, Cuba, in 2019.
- — The 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado. This Oklahoma F5 produced the highest wind speed ever measured on Earth — 486 km/h — as it tore through the Moore suburbs.
- — The 2019 Dallas tornado. A nighttime tornado carved a path through Dallas, Texas, in 2019, though remarkably no one died.
- — Italy's waterspout tornadoes. Tornadoes and waterspouts strike Italy's coasts more often than many realise, damaging ports and towns.
- — The 2020 Nashville tornado. A tornado tore through downtown Nashville and Cookeville, Tennessee, at night in 2020.
- — The 1966 Topeka tornado. An F5 tornado tore through Topeka, Kansas, in 1966, defying a local legend that a hill would protect the city.
- — The 2021 Wuhan and Suzhou tornadoes. Two tornadoes struck central and eastern China on the same day in 2021, killing over a dozen.
- — The 2021 South Moravia tornado. A rare, violent tornado tore through villages in the Czech Republic, killing 6 in one of Europe's worst.
- — The 2021 Mayfield tornado. A long-track December tornado devastated Mayfield, Kentucky, part of a deadly out-of-season outbreak.
- — The Quad-State tornado. A single supercell spawned a tornado family that tracked for over 160 miles across four states in December 2021.
- — The 1987 Edmonton tornado. 'Black Friday' — an F4 tornado tore through Edmonton, Canada, killing 27.
- — The 1989 Daulatpur-Saturia tornado. The deadliest tornado in world history killed roughly 1,300 people in Bangladesh's Manikganj district.
- — The 2023 Rolling Fork tornado. A violent tornado nearly wiped out Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in 2023.
- — The 2003 Oklahoma City tornado. A tornado struck the Oklahoma City area again in 2003, four years after the record 1999 storm.
- — The 1953 Worcester tornado. An F4 tornado struck Worcester, Massachusetts, killing 94 in one of New England's rare violent tornadoes.
- — The 1974 Super Outbreak. In 18 hours, 148 tornadoes tore across 13 U.S. states, the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded until 2011.
- — The 1970 Lubbock tornado. A tornado tore through downtown Lubbock, Texas, reshaping how scientists rate tornado damage.
- — The 1925 Tri-State Tornado. The deadliest tornado in U.S. history tore 350 km across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana in over three hours, killing 695.
- — The 1953 Waco tornado. A tornado tore through downtown Waco, Texas, killing 114 and helping launch modern tornado warnings.
- — The 1996 Tangail tornado. One of the deadliest tornadoes in history struck the Tangail district of Bangladesh, killing around 700.
- — The Wichita Falls tornado. 'Terrible Tuesday' — a huge tornado tore through Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1979.
- — The Woodward tornado. One of the deadliest tornadoes in Oklahoma history destroyed much of Woodward in 1947.
- — The Guin tornado. One of the Super Outbreak's most violent tornadoes obliterated the town of Guin, Alabama, in 1974.
- — The 1953 Flint–Beecher tornado. The last single U.S. tornado to kill over 100 people struck Flint, Michigan.
