REMEMBERING THE MARCH 18, 1925 TRI-STATE TORNADO
March 16,
2000 — The adage in the Plains states that "if you don't like the weather
to stick around for 10 minutes and it will change" dates back to the days
when the land was first settled. As morning turned to afternoon on March 18,
1925, few people realized how drastically the weather would change, or that the
day's weather would spawn a tornado still infamous for its death and
destruction.
Although it occurred 75 years ago, the Tri-State Tornado of
1925 still holds some significant records as tracked by NOAA's
National Weather Service. That single tornado holds the record for:
longest continuous track on the ground (219 miles); duration (3.5 hours); the
third fastest forward speed (an average of 62 mph); and the greatest number of
tornado fatalities suffered by a single U.S. city (234 in Murphysboro,
Illinois).
Weather Service forecasters of the time didn't have the technology
to help them predict, identify, and track severe weather. After all, it was
1925—the year of the Scopes Monkey Trial, Prohibition, silent movies, Flappers,
and Duesenbergs as the classy transportation. Calvin Coolidge was elected
president that year, Lon Chaney starred in the silent version of Phantom of the
Opera, and Art Deco was just coming into vogue.
Government offices were lucky to have telephones and the first
satellite was more than 40 years in the future. There
was no NOAA Weather Radio nor
were there thousands of commercial radio and television stations to provide
information to the public. There was no organized warning system in existence.
As a severe thunderstorm formed over southeast Missouri in the
early afternoon hours of March 18, 1925, few people other than the local
weather forecasters had any inclination of what was to come. Those forecasters
had no way of truly determining the strength of the storm and no idea of the
devastation that was about to bring heartbreak to thousands.
The tornado spawned by that severe thunderstorm barreled across
southeast Missouri, southern Illinois and southwest Indiana at breakneck speed.
According to eyewitness accounts, the tornado was unrecognizable at times,
having turned into a huge black wall of debris that caught people off-guard. At
times during its life, the tornado reached F-5 status on the
(later-developed) Fujita tornado scale with
winds in excess of 300 miles per hour.
When it developed about three miles northwest of Ellington,
Missouri, just after one o'clock that afternoon, the tornado gave no signs that
it would grow into a monster. The tornado lifted from the ground for a brief
period just after touching down, typical of many, small tornadoes. But when it
touched down again, it held the land with a vengeance and stayed on the ground
until it dissipated at 4:30 p.m. about three miles southwest of Petersburg,
Indiana.
While the 62 mph average ground speed is still a record, the
Tri-State Tornado set another speed record that still stands, traveling an
incredible 73 mph from Gorham, Missouri, to Murphysboro. As the tornado passed
by, a barograph trace at the Old Ben Coal Mine in West Franfort, Illinois,
recorded the lowest pressure ever taken of 28.70.
In the aftermath of the tornado, 695 people were dead and more
than 2,000 were injured; 15,000 homes had been destroyed in Missouri, Illinois,
and Indiana. Schools and businesses in 19 communities were left in shambles;
and dazed survivors were left to pick up the pieces.
In today's world of weather forecasting, at least four
National Weather Service officeswould be watching the storm
even as it formed. The Storm Prediction
Center in Norman, Oklahoma, would issue tornado watches for the
three-state area. Weather radar, satellites and weather models run on a
super-computer would provide forecasters with information about what was coming
hours in advance.
If the Tri-State Tornado occurred today, tornado warnings would
follow severe thunderstorm warnings in western Missouri. NOAA Weather Radio
transmitters, operated by Weather Service personnel, would provide advance
warning to the public, the media and local emergency managers. Spotter networks
would be called out in force along the projected storm path, and local
emergency managers would sound warning sirens as they received word of the
approaching maelstrom. Local radio and television meteorologists would add
their touches to repeated break-ins of normal programming. And many of the
people killed and injured would have time to seek adequate shelter from the
tornado.
The U.S. government learned a great many lessons on March 18,
1925. The accounts of survivors and old photographs of the damage path cut by
the tornado emphasize the real horror of that day to an unsuspecting public.
Several of these personal recollections, pictures of damage caused
by the tornado, and a program for the commemoration to be held from 1-3 p.m.
March 18 at the Murphysboro Middle School Gymnasium can be found on the
Tri-State Tornado Anniversary Web site on the home page of the Paducah,
Kentucky, Weather Forecast Office located at:http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pah/1925.
Weather Service officials, emergency management representatives from Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, will join Murphysboro Mayor Chris Grissom and others to commemorate one of the deadliest days in U.S. weather history, commiserate with survivors and detail progressive steps taken to ensure that such a tragedy doesn't occur again.
Photos of Tri-State Tornadoes of 1925
These are NOAA photos, which are in the public domain. You may use these photos as long as you credit "NOAA."
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