March 18 - Tri-State Tornado

This Day in History: 18 March 2020

 

18 March 1925

 

95 years ago, today, the worst tornado in American history occurred in eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, resulting in the deaths of 695 people, the injuries of 13,000 people, and property damage of $17 million. This was known as the 'Tri-State Tornado'. The deadly twister began its track through Ellington, Missouri, but it hit hardest in southern Illinois. Here, 500 out of the total 695 people were killed. In Indiana, the tornado destroyed the towns of Griffin, Owensville, and Princeton, and 85 farms in between, disrupting the lives of everyone it encountered.

 

A tornado is a dark, funnel cloud, that contains violent, rotating air. They develop in climate conditions that are unique to the central and southern plains, and can gain a speed up to 300 mph, while having a diameter of varying width, possibly varying from a few feet to a mile. This natural disaster generally travels in a northeast distance, at around a speed of 30 mph. The Tri-State Tornado traveled 219 miles and spent more than 3 hours on the ground. It devasted everything in its path for 164 miles, and had a diameter of more than a mile, while it traveled at speeds of more than 70 mph, the worst in US history.

 

Want to find out more about the Tri-State Tornado of 1925? Click here to find out more, or here for a video.