St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado

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This article is about the St. Louis, Missouri tornado of 1896. For other St. Louis tornadoes, see St. Louis tornado history.
St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado Outbreak
Damage at Jefferson and Allen Avenues
Damage at Jefferson and Allen Avenues
Date of tornado outbreak: May 27-28, 1896
Duration1: Unknown
Maximum rated tornado2: F4 tornado
Tornadoes caused: Unknown
Damages: $3.4 billion (2005 USD)
Fatalities: 284+
Areas affected: Central-Eastern United States

1Time from first tornado to last tornado
2Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale


The "St. Louis - East St. Louis Tornado" is a historic tornado event that occurred on Monday, May 27, 1896, as part of a major tornado outbreak across the Central United States on the 27th, continuing across the Eastern United States on the 28th.[1] It is among the first tornadoes with actual damage photographs.[citation needed] One of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history, this very large, long-track, and violent tornado was the most notable of an outbreak which produced other large, long-track, violent, killer tornadoes.

Confirmed
Total		 Confirmed
F0		 Confirmed
F1		 Confirmed
F2		 Confirmed
F3		 Confirmed
F4		 Confirmed
F5
14 ' ' 5 5 4 0

Contents

[edit] May 27 outbreak

The first significant tornado of the day formed near Bellflower, Missouri and killed a woman. Three students died and sixteen were injured when the Dye School in Audrain County, Missouri was hit at around 6:15 P.M. The same tornado killed one student and injured 19 others at the Bean Creek school a few minutes later. At 6:30, two supercell thunderstorms produced two tornadoes. One decimated farms in New Minden, Hoyleton, Richview, and Irvington, Illinois.

Twenty-seven more people died in the other Illinois tornadoes of this outbreak.

[edit] St. Louis - East St. Louis tornado

The tornado spawned from the other supercell became the third deadliest and the most costly tornado in United States history. It touched down in St. Louis, Missouri, then one of the largest and most influential cities in the country. 137 people died as the tornado traversed the core of the city leaving a mile wide (1.6 km) continuous swath of destroyed homes, schools, saloons, factories, mills, churches, parks, and railroad yards. More people probably died on boats on the Mississippi River as the bodies may have gone downriver. When the tornado crossed the river and hit East Saint Louis, Illinois, it was smaller but more intense. An additional 118 people were killed. The confirmed death toll is 255, with some estimates above 400. More than 1,000 were injured. The tornado was later rated F4 on the Fujita scale. Adjusted for wealth and inflation (1997 USD), it is the costliest tornado in U.S. history at an estimated $2.9 billion.[2] Enough damage was done to the city that there was some question that St. Louis might not be able to host the 1896 Republican National Convention in June.

[edit] In perspective

[edit] St. Louis tornado history

Main article: St. Louis tornado history

It is somewhat rare for the core of a large city to be hit directly by a tornado (due to their relatively small area and the relative lack of large cities in the highest tornado threat region)--especially a large intense tornado--yet several other tornadoes have tracked through the City of St. Louis and several of these tornadoes were also very deadly and destructive. Among these events are: 1871 (9 killed), 1890 (4 killed), 1904 (3 killed, 100 injured), 1927 (79 killed, 550 injured, 2nd costliest in US history)[2], and 1959 (21 killed, 345 injured).[3] This makes St. Louis the worst tornado afflicted urban area in the U.S.[4] Additionally, the Greater St. Louis area is the scene of even more historically destructive and deadly tornadoes.

[edit] Other May 1896 tornadoes

Main article: May 1896 tornado outbreak sequence

In what was apparently an intense tornado outbreak sequence, other major tornado outbreaks occurred on May 15, May 17, and May 24 - 25, with other smaller outbreaks during the month as well. The middle to end of May was extremely active but sparse records preclude knowing much detail. Tom Grazulis has stated that the week of May 24 - 28 was "perhaps the most violent single week of tornado activity in US history".[5]

[edit] 1896 tornado season

The 1896 tornado season has the distinction of being the deadliest in United States history. There were at least 40 killer tornadoes spanning from April 11 to November 26; including this one, the only one to kill more than 100 people in two separate cities.[5]

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Grazulis, Thomas P. (Jul 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1879362031. 
  2. ^ a b Brooks, Harold E.; Charles A. Doswell III (Feb 2001). "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 1890–1999" (abstract). Weather and Forecasting 16 (1): 168–76. American Meteorological Society. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2001)016<0168:NDFMTI>2.0.CO;2. 
  3. ^ Przybylinski, Ron; et al. St. Louis City Tornadoes. St. Louis Tornado Climatology. National Weather Service. Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
  4. ^ Edwards, Roger; Joe Schaefer. Downtown Tornadoes. Online Tornado FAQ. Storm Prediction Center. Retrieved on 2007-06-17.
  5. ^ a b Grazulis, Tom; Doris Grazulis. 1896 Tornadoes. The Tornado Project. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.

[edit] Further reading

  • The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896. SIU Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8093-2124-6

[edit] External links

v • d • e
10 deadliest American tornadoes
Rank Name (location) Date Deaths
1 "Tri-State" March 18, 1925 695
2 Natchez, MS May 7, 1840 317
3 St. Louis and East St. Louis May 27, 1896 255
4 Tupelo, MS April 5, 1936 216
5 Gainesville, GA April 5, 1936 203
6 Woodward, OK April 9, 1947 181
7 Amite, LA and Purvis, MS April 24, 1908 143
8 New Richmond, WI June 12, 1899 117
9
 Flint, MI June 8, 1953 115
10
- - -		 Waco, TX
Goliad, TX		 May 11, 1953
May 18, 1902		 114
114
Source: Storm Prediction Center
v • d • e
10 costliest US tornadoes
Rank Area affected Date Damage 1 Adjusted Damage 2
1 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma May 3, 1999 1000 963
2 Wichita Falls, Texas April 10, 1979 400 884
3 Omaha, Nebraska May 6, 1975 250 745
4 Lubbock, Texas Tornado May 11, 1970 135 558
5 Topeka, Kansas Tornado June 8, 1966 100 494
6 Windsor Locks/Poquonock, Connecticut October 3, 1979 200 442
7 St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado May 27, 1896 12 380
8 Xenia, Ohio April 3, 1974 100 325
9 North-central Georgia March 31, 1973 89 321
10 Worcester, MA June 9, 1953 52 311
Source: Brooks, Harold E.; C.A. Doswell (Feb 2001). "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 1890–1999". Weather and Forecasting 16 (1): 168-76. American Meteorological Society.  3
1. These are the unadjusted damage totals in millions of US dollars.
2. Raw damage totals adjusted for inflation, in thousands of 1997 USD.
3. Search of NCDC Storm Data indicates no tornadoes since 1999 have caused more than $210 million in damage, so this source is up-to-date.