1967 St. Louis tornado outbreak
A wintertime tornado outbreak affected the Midwestern United States on January 24, 1967. Of the 30 confirmed tornadoes, 13 occurred in Iowa, nine in Missouri, seven in Illinois, and one in Wisconsin. The outbreak produced, at the time, the northernmost tornado to hit the United States in winter, in Wisconsin, until January 7, 2008. The tornadoes formed ahead of a deep storm system. The deadliest and most damaging tornado of the outbreak struck Greater St. Louis at F4 intensity, killing three people and injuring 216.
Background
On Tuesday, January 24, 1967, a negatively tilted trough bisected the Midwestern United States. As a cold front traversed the Upper Midwest, a line of intermittent, tornado-producing supercells developed.Confirmed tornadoes
Prior to 1990, there is a likely undercount of tornadoes, particularly E/F0–1, with reports of weaker tornadoes becoming more common as population increased. A sharp increase in the annual average E/F0–1 count by approximately 200 tornadoes was noted upon the implementation of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar in 1990–1991. 1974 marked the first year where significant tornado counts became homogenous with contemporary values, attributed to the consistent implementation of Fujita scale assessments. Numerous discrepancies on the details of tornadoes in this outbreak exist between sources. The total count of tornadoes and ratings differs from various agencies accordingly. The list below documents information from the most contemporary official sources alongside assessments from tornado historian Thomas P. Grazulis.| Color / symbol | Description |
| † | Data from Grazulis 1990/1993/2001b |
| ¶ | Data from a local National Weather Service office |
| ※ | Data from the 1967 Storm Data publication |
| ‡ | Data from the NCEI database |
| ♯ | Maximum width of tornado |
| ± | Tornado was rated below F2 intensity by Grazulis but a specific rating is unavailable. |
- Along with the 30 confirmed tornadoes listed, tornado researcher Thomas P. Grazulis listed two additional F2 tornadoes that may have touched down.
- *The first occurred west of Muscatine, Muscatine County, Iowa, at 22:30 UTC, unroofing and tearing apart a house. It was officially listed as a severe thunderstorm wind in Storm Data.
- *The other occurred on the southern outskirts of Illinois City, Rock Island County, Illinois, at an unknown time, damaging homes before ripping the roof off a farmhouse. It was officially listed as part of a complex of severe thunderstorm winds in Storm Data.
Northern Chesterfield–Maryland Heights–St. Ann–Lambert Field–Spanish Lake, Missouri
This tornado initially touched down around 6:55 p.m. in western St. Louis County at Olive Street Road near the Howard Bend Pumping Station where damage was reported to the Chesterfield Manor Nursing Home. The tornado moved northeast at 40 mph striking the small community of Lake, the luxury homes at River Bend Estates and Old Farm Estates valued between $25,000 and $33,000, Creve Coeur Meadows and Glenwood Subdivisions, and the heavily populated communities of Maryland Heights, Bridgeton, St. Ann, Edmundson, Woodson Terrace, Berkeley, Ferguson, Dellwood, the Hathaway Manor Subdivision, and Spanish Lake. The tornado apparently dissipated or weakened as it crossed the Mississippi River, as there is no record of significant damage in Illinois.The damage path ranged from 50 to 200 yards wide and the tornado was on the ground for approximately 35 minutes. Remarkably only 3 fatalities were reported while 216 people suffered injuries. Damage included 168 homes destroyed, 258 with major damage, and 1485 with minor damage. At least 600 businesses were damaged or destroyed. The total damage was estimated to be around 15 million dollars.
The tornado was given a F4 rating on the Fujita Tornado Ranking Scale. The F4 occurrence was likely small in aerial coverage with the majority of the severe damage being classified as either F2 or F3.