Tornado records

This article lists various tornado records. The most "extreme" tornado in recorded history was the Tri-State tornado, which spread through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana on March 18, 1925. It was likely an F5 on the Fujita Scale and holds records for longest path length at and longest duration at about hours. The 1974 Guin tornado had the highest forward speed ever recorded in a violent tornado, at. The deadliest tornado in world history was the Daulatpur–Saturia tornado in Bangladesh on April 26, 1989, which killed approximately 1,300 people. In the history of Bangladesh, at least 24 tornadoes killed more than 100 people each, almost half of the total for the world. The most extensive tornado outbreak on record was the 2011 Super Outbreak, which resulted in 367 tornadoes and 324 tornadic fatalities, whereas the 1974 Super Outbreak was the most intense tornado outbreak on tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis's outbreak intensity score with 578, as opposed to the 2011 outbreak's 378.

Tornado outbreaks

Most tornadoes in a single 24-hour period

The 2011 Super Outbreak was the largest tornado outbreak spawned by a single weather system in recorded history; it produced 367 tornadoes from April 25–28, with 223 of those in a single 24-hour period on April 27 from midnight to midnight CDT, fifteen of which were violent EF4–EF5 tornadoes. 348 deaths occurred in that outbreak, of which 324 were tornado-related. The outbreak largely contributed to the record for most tornadoes in April with 780 tornadoes, almost triple the prior record. The overall record for a single month was 542 in May 2003, which was also broken.
The 1974 Super Outbreak of April 3–4, which spawned 148 confirmed tornadoes across eastern North America, held the record for the most prolific tornado outbreak in terms of overall tornadoes for many years, and as of October 2025, it still holds the record for most violent, long-track tornadoes. More significant tornadoes occurred within 24 hours than any other day on record. Due to advancements in technology allowing for more accuracy in tornado reporting, the 2011 and 1974 tornado counts are not directly comparable.

Most violent tornadoes (F4/EF4 and F5/EF5) in an outbreak

Longest continuous outbreak and largest autumnal outbreak

Most tornado outbreaks in North America occur in the spring, but there is a secondary peak of tornado activity in the fall. It is historically less consistent from year to year but can include exceptionally large or intense outbreaks. In 1992, an estimated 95 tornadoes broke out in a record 41 hours of continuous tornado activity from November 21 to 23. This is also among the largest-known outbreaks in areal expanse. Many other very large outbreaks have occurred in autumn, especially in October and November, such as the 2002 Veterans Day weekend outbreak, in which 83 tornadoes occurred from November 9 to 11, and November 17, 2013, when 73 tornadoes were produced in 11 hours.

Greatest number of tornadoes spawned from a hurricane

The greatest number of tornadoes spawned from a hurricane is 120 from Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, followed by Hurricane Beulah with 115 in September 1967, and 103 from Hurricane Frances in September 2004. Hurricanes prior to the 1990s, when tornado records were more sparse, perhaps produced more tornadoes than were officially documented.

Tornadoes annually and monthly

Most tornadoes for each calendar month

Month	Event	Tornadoes
January	Tornado outbreak of January 21–23, 1999	128
February	2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak	87
March	Tornado outbreak of March 13–16, 2025	118
April	2011 Super Outbreak	367
May	Tornado outbreak sequence of May 2019	402
June	Tornado outbreak of June 14–18, 1992	170
July	Severe weather sequence of July 13–16, 2024	90
August	Hurricane Katrina tornado outbreak	57
September	Hurricane Ivan tornado outbreak	120
October	October 2010 North American storm complex	69
November	Tornado outbreak of November 22–24, 2004 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak	104
December	December 2021 Midwest derecho and tornado outbreak	120

Most tornadoes in a single year

On average, 1,200 tornadoes happen in a year in the United States. The most confirmed tornadoes in a single year was in 2004, which had 1817 confirmed tornadoes. This was mostly boosted by a large tornado outbreak sequence in May 2004, where 509 tornadoes occurred. It also had help from a very active fall and winter tornado season.

Tornado casualties and damage

Deadliest single tornado in world history

Officially, the deadliest single tornado occurred on April 26, 1989, in Bangladesh, where a large tornado took at least 1,300 lives. In 2022, this tornado's death toll was challenged in a database of Bangladeshi tornadoes maintained by Dr. Fahim Sufi with the Australian Government, claiming that the April 14, 1969, Dhaka tornado, which killed 922 people, was the deadliest in Bangladesh, with the Jamalpur tornado killing only 570.

Deadliest single tornado in US history

The Tri-State tornado of March 18, 1925, killed 695 people in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. The outbreak it occurred with was also the deadliest known tornado outbreak, with a combined death toll of 747 across the Mississippi River Valley.1925 Tri-State Tornado Statistics">

Most intense tornado damage

The original Fujita scale, developed by Ted Fujita, has never been used to assign a final rating over F5 intensity; however, two tornadoes, the 1970 Lubbock tornado and 1974 Xenia tornado, were initially given F6 ratings by Fujita himself, but both were eventually downgraded to F5 ratings. The 1976 Jordan tornado was described by Fujita as the most intense tornado damage he had surveyed up to that point.
A more recent example of extreme damage was at the Double Creek Estates of Jarrell, Texas; the 1997 Jarrell tornado stalled over the area at peak F5 intensity, destroying every home in the subdivision, and killing 27. Extreme ground scouring and high-end F5 damage was surveyed. The 2008 Parkersburg tornado was reported by mayor Bob Haylock to have been so intense that a majority of the fatalities out of Parkersburg were from people taking shelter in basements underground. The 2011 Philadelphia, Mississippi tornado caused extreme ground scouring across its path; up to of soil was removed from the environment, presumably from intense subvortices.

Most damaging tornado

The 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado on May 27, incurred the most damages adjusted for inflation, with an estimated $5.36 billion. In raw numbers, the Joplin tornado of May 22, 2011, is considered the costliest tornado in recent history, with damage totals at $3.71 billion. Until April 2011, the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado of May 3, 1999, was the most costly, which was later surpassed by the 2011 Tuscaloosa–Birmingham tornado, with a damage total of $3.18 billion.

Lists of damage and fatality records

Largest and most powerful tornadoes

Highest winds observed in a tornado

During the F5 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado on May 3, 1999, in the southern Oklahoma City metro area, a Doppler on Wheels situated near the tornado measured winds of momentarily in a small area inside the funnel approximately above ground level. The measured winds in this tornado have been updated to.
On May 31, 2013, a tornado hit rural areas near El Reno, Oklahoma. The tornado was originally rated as an EF3 based on damage; however, after mobile radar data analysis was conducted, it was concluded to have been an EF5 due to a measured wind speed of greater than, second only to the Bridge Creek–Moore tornado. Revised RaXPol analysis found winds of well above ground level and ≥ below with some subvortices moving at. These winds may possibly be as high or higher than the winds recorded on May 3, 1999. Despite the recorded windspeed, the El Reno tornado was later downgraded back to EF3 due to the fact that no EF5 damage was found, likely due to the lack of sufficient damage indicators in the largely-rural area west of Oklahoma City.
During the Greenfield, Iowa EF4 on May 21, 2024, Doppler on Wheels recorded wind speeds of in a very small swath inside the funnel approximately above radar level as the tornado went through town. After doing some mathematical and physics-based calculations, the researchers determined those measured winds were equivalent to. The calculated minimum wind threshold as stated beats both the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado and the 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado for minimum possible maximum windspeed; however, the highest confirmed peak windspeeds are lower than the 1999 tornado.
Winds were measured at using portable Doppler weather radar in the Red Rock, Oklahoma, tornado during the April 26, 1991, tornado outbreak in north-central Oklahoma. Though these winds are possibly indicative of F5 intensity, this particular tornado's path never encountered any significant structures and caused minimal damage, so it was rated F4.

Accepted rating	Date	Location	Low end peak wind estimate	High end peak wind estimate	Method	Estimating researcher / organization	Ref
T11		Woldegk, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Holy Roman Empire			Damage survey	ESSL
F5		Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, United States		>	Damage survey	NWS
F4		Lublin, Poland			Dynamic pressure	Gumulski
F5		Charles City, Iowa, United States			Damage survey	NWS
F5		Guin, Alabama, United States			Acoustic analysis	University of Mississippi
F5		Xenia, Ohio, United States			Academic analysis	Fujita
F5		Goessel, Kansas, United States			Academic analysis	Fujita, Grazulis
F4		Pampa, Texas, United States		>	Photogrammetry	Grazulis

While never observed, these tornadoes are believed to have had winds of or above, which would make them among the strongest tornadoes in history. There is a questionable analysis of the 1917 Mattoon/Charleston tornado published in the Geographical Review in 1917 that stated the tornado had strong "inflowing wind, which probably exceeded ". A 1968 Weather Bureau review of the 1968 Hansell-Charles City tornado found intense ground scouring, and initial estimates for wind speeds reached ; these figures were revised down to.