100 year ago today: the Tri-State Tornado

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It's the 100th anniversary of what is widely considered America's worst single tornado, which predated much of the technology we depend on today for severe weather forecasting and warnings. On March 18, 1925, an outbreak of severe thunderstorms spawned the deadliest tornado in U.S. history. The so-called Tri-State tornado claimed 695 lives from southeast Missouri into southern Illinois and southwest Indiana. That death toll was double that of the next deadliest U.S. tornado from May 7, 1840 in Natchez, Mississippi (317 deaths).

Of those, 234 deaths were in Murphysboro, Illinois, the single greatest tornado death toll in any U.S. city. Thirty-three other deaths occurred at a school in De Soto, Illinois. At least 19 separate communities were affected. Gorham, Illinois, and Griffin, Indiana, were totally destroyed. Ninety percent of Annapolis, Missouri, and Parrish, Illinois, were destroyed. Parrish was never rebuilt, becoming, in essence, a tornadic "ghost town." An estimated 15,000 homes were demolished.

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One lingering question over the years was whether this was indeed a single tornado, or a family of tornadoes with gaps in between. A comprehensive 2013 study combining interviews, photos and news articles found the Tri-state tornado was at least 151 miles long from Bollinger County, Missouri, to Pike County, Indiana.

The culprit appears to have been a single classic, then high-precipitation long-track supercell possibly near a warm-front/dryline intersection, according to the study. Remaining in a favorable environment, the Tri-State tornado continued for 3.5 hours, with an average width of three-quarters of a mile, and an average forward speed of 62 mph. In an era without television, watches or warnings, news traveled by word of mouth or from the local newspaper, an especially frightening thought given the speed of movement of this historic tornado.

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