by Marshall Parks

Created on: August 01, 2008

The worst tornadoes in history as far as loss of life in concerned, were mostly recorded before 1954, when the United States Weather Bureau took gigantic steps in an effort to warn the public. Weather stations were outfitted with radar throughout the U.S., concentrating first on tornado prone areas.

Three extremely deadly tornadoes hit the U.S. in 1953. One in Waco, Texas killed 114. One in Flint and Beecher, Michigan killed 115, and one in Worchester, Massachusetts, killed 94. The Worchester storm was not even in the top 10 deadliest tornadoes in the United States. The Flint-Beecher tornado of June 8, 1953 has the distinction of being the last single tornado to kill over 100 people. This is a testament to the efforts of the Weather Bureau of the mid 1950s.

By far the worst and probably the most intense tornado was on March 18th, of 1925. There is much speculation about this storm. Some meteorologists feel it was a family of tornadoes, bred by the same parent thunderstorm. It has been widely studied and most experts now feel it was a single tornado and it could have perhaps started a full 25 miles from where it was first thought to touch down.

Officially, the Great Tri-State Tornado touched down in Reynolds County, Missouri. It stayed on the ground until near Petersburg, Indiana. It took a little over three and a half hours to traverse this distance, some two hundred and twenty miles. At times, its forward speed was clocked at 73 miles per hour, double the speed of an average tornado.

Many died in Missouri, but the brunt of its fury was felt as it crossed the Mississippi River, virtually destroying the small town of Gorham, Illinois. Only two residents escaped death or injury. The tornado roared northeast and bore down on its first populace city, Murphysboro, Illinois. Most eyewitnesses did not recognize the storm as a tornado. It looked more like a ground-hugging fog or a dust storm. It killed 234 people in Murphysboro alone. It remains the largest death toll for a single city.

Small and larger towns were splintered by the massive storm, a mile or more wide in places. West Frankfort, Illinois was hard hit. Desoto lost 33 school children, also a record. The tornado roared onward through rural parts of Illinois, still it killed 60 people in rural areas before crossing the Wabash River and smashing Griffin, Indiana to bits. Pictures from Griffin show nothing but a vast wasteland. Through Indiana, a definitive tornado was noticed, but it did little to stop the loss

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