2025 St. Louis tornado
On the afternoon of May 16, 2025, an intense and destructive tornado tracked more than through urban areas of Greater St. Louis, including Greater Ville and Fountain Park, in Missouri, United States. The tornado caused widespread destruction across St. Louis, while inflicting only relatively minor damage on neighboring areas in Illinois. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials called the residential damage the largest-scale the organization had surveyed since the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Federal aid has been requested but is pending acceptance. Volunteer engineers have been surveying homes throughout the city. Damage estimate put damage caused by the tornado at $1.6 billion, among the highest figures for an individual tornado on record. The tornado was the first deadly tornado in St. Louis since 1959.
Meteorological synopsis
The Storm Prediction Center outlined a moderate risk of severe weather over much of the middle Mississippi and lower Ohio valleys in the Midwestern United States on May 16. St. Louis was included in the northern area of the moderate risk, driven by the threat of severe hail and damaging winds; though the area of greatest tornadic potential was believed to lie further south and southeast. A strong upper-level trough over the Upper Midwest. Following the remnants of a severe weather system the previous day, a cold front was forecast to move through much of the Midwest and through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys that evening. Strong mid-level flow and shear values would contribute to ideal conditions for the development of storms, potentially developing into supercells, over eastern and southern Missouri that evening.Forecasters at the St. Louis National Weather Service office were monitoring the potential for severe weather across the region early in the morning. An area forecast discussion was issued shortly before 3a.m., discussing the implications of environmental parameters and model guidance for that afternoon. Models had been showing that the greatest risk of severe weather across the region would exist between 1p.m. and 5p.m. CDT. While the specifics of when and where storms would be develop were unclear, model runs showed that the convective environment overseen by the St. Louis office would consist of high levels of convective instability in excess of 3,000 J/kg, with matching lapse rates of 7.5–8.5 degrees Celsius per kilometer and shear values of 50–60 knots ahead of the cold front. The primary hazards outlined at the time were large hail above in diameter, while the risk of both strong downburst wind gusts potentially stronger than, and tornadoes, some potentially being strong, was also recognized by forecasters.
Shortly before noon, the Storm Prediction Center issued a mesoscale discussion concerning the development of storms over southwestern Missouri and eastern Arkansas. These storms existed ahead of the cold front and were expected to develop into supercells with time, whereas the environment ahead of the front was developing extreme instability. Forecasters believed that storm coverage would expand over the rest of Missouri, as well as parts of Arkansas and Illinois, as the day progressed. Also around this time, a tornado watch was issued across much of Missouri, including St. Louis, with the underlying environment expected to favor supercells throughout the day and a hazard of potentially intense tornadoes existed throughout the region.
At 2:08p.m., the warm front had reached St. Louis, and more supercells had developed across the line ahead of the cold front and dry line. Southerly winds had brought dew points in St. Louis up to at this time. The environment across and ahead of the line of supercells was conducive to the threat of large hail potentially above in diameter, and low-level helicity would support the threat for tornadoes, although these were expected to be further south over southeastern Missouri and neighboring parts of Illinois and Kentucky. A tornado warning was issued for St. Louis and surrounding areas by the National Weather Service St. Louis, Missouri at 2:34 pm CDT, as a storm over St. Ann and Overland had attained tornadic rotation. Five minutes later at 2:39 pm CDT, the tornado touched down.
Tornado summary
St. Louis, Missouri
The tornado first touched down at 2:39 pm CDT in Clayton just east of I-170 in St. Louis County, Missouri. Upon touching down, the tornado immediately reached EF2 intensity as it moved east-southeastward, causing considerable roof damage to an apartment building. It then passed through Clayton at EF1 strength, damaging apartment buildings, homes, and low-rise buildings, uprooting trees, and snapping tree branches. Turning east-northeastward, the tornado crossed over the Fontbonne University campus, inflicting EF1 damage to multiple buildings on the campus and snapping trees; one area of EF2 damage was noted, with some power poles that were snapped. East of the campus, the tornado caused widespread EF1 damage as it snapped or uprooted trees and caused minor to major roof damage to homes. MetroLink, St. Louis' rail transportation network, suffered damage to overhead power systems between Forest Park–DeBaliviere station and Brentwood I-64 station as the tornado moved over the majority of this segment. The tornado then entered the City of St. Louis and began to rapidly grow in size, snapping more trees in the Wydown/Skinker neighborhood before causing additional widespread tree damage as it clipped Forest Park and the Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood. The tornado again reached EF2 intensity as it struck DeBaliviere Place. It heavily damaged multiple apartment buildings, including two that received high-end EF2 damage, damaged homes, low-rise and mid-rise buildings, shattered windows, and snapped and uprooted numerous trees. In the Central West End and Academy neighborhoods, more homes, churches, mid-rise buildings, traffic lights, power poles, and trees were heavily damaged at EF1 intensity.The tornado then intensified to low-end EF3 intensity briefly as it impacted the Fountain Park neighborhood, partially destroying a strip mall and flattening a brick townhouse. Elsewhere across this area, as well as the adjacent neighborhoods of Lewis Place and Kingsway East, the tornado inflicted widespread EF2 damage. Several businesses and brick townhouses had walls and windows blown out and roofs partially and completely removed, and there was widespread damage to trees, power poles, and traffic lights. Part of the Centennial Christian Church, with three people inside, collapsed; although everyone was rescued, one person later died from their injuries. Other churches had windows shattered and exterior damage as well. In the latter neighborhood along Marcus Avenue, another brick townhome was also flattened at EF3 intensity, and a church nearby had its roof partially removed and its steeple knocked off. Minor damage was also noted in The Ville neighborhood. By this time, the tornado had grown into a large wedge that was nearly a mile wide.
The tornado then intensified to its peak intensity of mid-range EF3 as it moved through the Greater Ville neighborhood, flattening multiple brick townhouses along North Newstead Avenue. Beyond this point, the tornado continued to cause widespread EF2 damage with other brick townhouses and homes collapsing or heavily damaged, with roofs removed and exterior walls knocked down; many trees were damaged, and power poles were snapped as well. Around this time, the tornado warning for the area was upgraded to a Particularly dangerous situation tornado warning due to radar confirming the presence of debris being lofted by the tornado. Along Natural Bridge Avenue (Route 115), a tall flagpole was heavily damaged before the tornado moved into the O'Fallon neighborhood just west of Fairground Park at EF2 intensity. More brick townhouses, other homes, businesses, and churches were heavily damaged and had shattered windows, and power poles and trees were snapped. This included some brick townhouses that collapsed at O'Fallon Park. The tornado then narrowed and weakened as it crossed I-70 into the North Riverfront neighborhood, damaging multiple warehouses and snapping power poles as it moved through an industrial area in a train yard along BNSF Railway's Hannibal Subdivision before crossing the Mississippi River into Madison County, Illinois. Most of the damage in this area was rated EF1 except for the snapped wooden power poles, which were rated EF2.
Illinois and dissipation
The now smaller and weaker tornado then moved ashore west of Granite City at EF1 strength, damaging trees as it moved east-northeastward. The tornado then crossed IL 3, and struck the northern part of the city, damaging homes and snapping and uprooting more trees. The tornado then crossed IL 203, damaging more trees, businesses, homes, and a medical center. The tornado then struck Pontoon Beach, damaging more trees and homes. The tornado then crossed IL 111 and moved into an open field before passing over the I-270 and I-255/IL 255 interchange. The tornado then moved through the northwestern part of Glen Carbon, damaging a storage facility and more trees. The tornado then weakened to EF0 intensity as it approached IL 157, snapping tree branches and causing minor damage to a home before dissipating southwest of Edwardsville just after crossing IL 157 east of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus at 3:06 p.m. CDT.Mechanism
The tornado was on the ground for 27 minutes, had a path length of, was at its largest width, and moved at an average speed of. The survey noted that the tornado may have consisted of multiple circulations. The tornado was likely caused by a very strong rear-flank downdraft surge, which was cited as a reason it occurred further north than where forecasters anticipated most tornadic activity to occur.Non-tornadic effects
Within Forest Park, the Saint Louis Zoo had 10,000 guests on-site when the storm struck, but all survived without injuries. 95% of the zoo's animals were recalled to the shelter. Although the tornado did not hit the zoo, its rear flank downdraft winds inflicted damage to the butterfly enclosure, in addition to other exhibits. The Harlem Tap Room bar, with 20 people inside, also collapsed, but no fatalities occurred there. This damage was also likely caused by the rear flank downdraft, as it was outside of the tornado's damage path.Casualties
The National Weather Service stated in its initial tornado damage survey that five people were killed in the tornado, in addition to a further 38 who were non-fatally injured. The death toll was later revised down to four, with one death attributed to a non-tornadic wind gust from the same storm.| Name | Age | Type of structure | Location | Additional notes | Reference |
| Deloris Holmes | 70 | Permanent home | North St. Louis | Holmes was killed when the roof was ripped off of their three-story family home. | |
| Rena Lyles | 60 | Permanent home | Fountain Park | Lyles was attempting to shelter with her family when a dresser fell on her, followed shortly by the collapse of the entire house. | |
| Patricia Ann Penelton | 74 | Church | Centennial Christian Church in Fountain Park | Penelton was killed in the collapse of the Centennial Christian Church. | |
| Larry Patrick | 82 | Permanent home | O'Fallon neighborhood | Patrick was on an exterior room on the lowest floor of his house when the tornado struck, and was found dead by search and rescue crews. | |
| Juan Baltazar | 48 | Motor vehicle | Grand Drive in Carondelet Park | Baltazar, a food truck operator, was crushed by a falling tree while driving a truck on Grand Drive. While this death was caused by the same storm as the St. Louis tornado and initially attributed to the tornado itself, it was later attributed to non-tornadic wind to the south of St. Louis. |
Aftermath
Immediate response
At the Centennial Christian Church, which suffered a complete collapse with multiple people trapped under rubble, a call to the 911 emergency number was redirected to a non-emergency hotline. Although a city fire department, Engine House No. 28, was only a one-minute drive away, the tornado had fell a significant amount of trees onto roadways, and the first to respond to the collapse was reverend Dietra Wise Baker. Baker called the St. Louis County 911, though was told that the call must be taken by St. Louis City 911, which was "overloaded", and their call would not go through; the first notification of the collapse to emergency management was made by direct contact to individuals part of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and Fire Department.Between 2:40 and 7:00p.m. on May 16, police in St. Louis received 334 calls in total, in what KTVI described as a surge in emergency response activity following the storm.