PADUCAH — Monday marks the 99th anniversary of the March 18, 1925, tri-state tornado that ripped through southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and Indiana.
The storm lasted three hours and traveled 219 miles, killing 695 people and displacing 15,000. Another 2,027 people were injured.
National Weather Service meteorologists believe the storm could have wind speeds in excess of 300 mph, making it an EF 5 tornado, based on the currently intensifying Fujita scale.
Christina Wielgos, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Paducah office, explained the storm's aftermath like it was a war movie.
Christina Vergos
“The destruction was like a bomb going off,” Vilgos said. “It was indescribable destruction. Houses were completely flattened and the ruins were carried hundreds of miles. Our livestock were killed.”
Vergos noted that meteorologists assumed the low-pressure area moved from Missouri to Illinois. She said a warm front north of the region warmed the atmosphere and made it highly humid.
“This sets the stage for thunderstorms to develop,” Vergos said. “Without strong winds aloft, tornadoes of this size would not occur. This may be what creates the tornado monster.”
The storm affected 13 counties in three states, destroying more than 20 communities along its path. While areas like Beeler, Missouri; Griffin, Indiana were 100% wiped out; Murphysboro, Illinois had the highest death toll with 234 deaths.
WPSD Local 6 Chief Meteorologist Trent Okerson noted that weather warnings were almost non-existent in the 1920s. He said there was little communication about when severe weather would occur.
“Weather forecasts were based on observations, word of mouth or what was printed in newspapers,” Oxon said. “There were no television stations and there were no real weather forecasts on the radio.”
The word “tornado” was not allowed to be used in forecasts until the 1940s, Oxon said.
“Of course, the lack of warning contributed to the casualties that day,” he said.
weather radio
Oxon said the tornado outbreak that swept through northwest Tennessee, Illinois, Kentucky and Arkansas on Dec. 10, 2021, could be compared to the March 18, 1925 tornado.
“[The Dec. 10, 2021, tornado] “It was relatively close in intensity and distance,” Oxon said. “There was a stretch of about 11 to 14 miles in northwest Tennessee where the Dec. 10 tornado was not consistently on the ground.”
If this disruption hadn't occurred and the Dec. 10 tornado had continued from Arkansas to Kentucky, it would have been longer than the Tri-State tornado, Oxon said. In terms of intensity, the December 10 tornado was an EF 4 on the Fujita scale, one level below the 1925 EF 5 tornado.
Wielgos and Okerson agree that the 1925 Tri-State tornado played a crucial role in the development of modern storm tracking technology and warning systems.
“You have weather radios and smartphones,” Oxon said. “We recommend this as part of an early warning plan. Technology is not always foolproof, but having an extra layer of protection will help save lives when severe weather threatens.”
