In the evening hours of May 20,1957,a large and long-track tornado would move through portions of eastern Kansas and areas in western Missouri,killing forty-four people and injuring over five hundred more. The tornado was the deadliest to strike the Kansas City metropolitan area,deadliest worldwide in 1957,and damage in the city would later receive a rating of F5 on the Fujita scale;the first of three worldwide to receive this rating in 1957.
The tornado would touch down near Williamsburg at 7:15 p.m.,moving to the northeast. As the tornado neared Homewood,it took on a visible multi-vortex shape and would loft gravestones in the air. As it passed near areas around Spring Hill,the tornado leveled numerous buildings and killed seven people in Kansas before crossing state lines into Missouri,where the worst damage would be observed in the Martin City area. The tornado left an estimated eighty-five percent of Martin City "uninhabitable",and would kill another thirty-seven people before dissipating at 8:53 p.m.,over an hour after touching down.
The tornado touching down in KansasAerial view of damage caused by the Ruskin Heights F5.
This violent, long-tracked, multiple-vortex event was likely a family of tornadoes. Forming near Williamsburg, it moved northeastward through several counties, producing near-continuous damage; a single tornado was likely present for 50mi (80km) or more. Around Homewood, the tornado was attended by up to 10tentacle-like vortices or satellite tornadoes, producing major damage to rural property and carrying gravestones miles away. Near Homewood, it was determined from ground surveys that two tornadoes were on the ground at the time, with the second one being rated F3.[4][5] Passing near Ottawa, Rantoul, and Spring Hill, it leveled many homes and caused sevenfatalities. South of Wellsville, the tornado may have dissipated and reformed; it then continued uninterruptedly for the rest of its life.[3]
Along the Kansas–Missouri border the tornado followed a near-straight line, causing $1million in losses in Kansas, along with seven deaths. Affecting the southern suburbs of Kansas City, it entered Missouri, tearing through Martin City, Hickman Mills, and Ruskin Heights, along with the northeastern side of Grandview. An occupied car was thrown into a water tower; the occupants survived.[6] Ground scouring was observed near Hickman Mills, and large trees were snapped.[7] Housing incurred F5 damage, besides some businesses at a shopping center. Some areas were reportedly "swept clean", and a newly built brick school in Ruskin Heights was badly damaged; 85% of Martin City was uninhabitable. In total, over 800 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed.[8] In all the tornado claimed 37lives in Missouri and injured 500or more people. Debris from Hickman Mills was found in Iowa, 165mi (266km) away, and other debris was carried aloft 30,000ft (9,100m; 5.7mi; 9.1km).[9]
Historically, the 1957F5 was not the only significant tornado to affect the area: an F3tornado also affected Martin City and nearby Holmes Park on May23, 1946, destroying or damaging chicken coops, silos, a marketplace, barns, and homes. The tornado killed a couple and injured fivepeople.[9]
Aftermath
Martial law was declared in Ruskin Heights and neighboring areas. National Guard troops were called in in order to assist with rescue and cleanup operations.[10] In total, the tornado caused $2,500,000 ($27,120,000 in 2024 USD) in damage in Kansas and Missouri. A memorial was constructed to honor the victims of the tornado; it was completed in May 1958.[4] In September 2024, the memorial was damaged due to a car crash.[11]
List of confirmed fatalities from the tornado[10][12]
"Ruskin Heights Tornado Memorial". Ruskin Heights Tornado. Ruskin Heights, Missouri: Ruskin Heights Memorial Tree Arbor Foundation. June 11, 2007. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
Grazulis, Thomas P. (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN1-879362-03-1.
Grazulis, Thomas P. (2001b). F5-F6 Tornadoes. St. Johnsbury, Vermont: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films.
On April 10–12, 1965, a historic severe weather event affected the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The tornado outbreak produced 55 confirmed tornadoes in one day and 16 hours. The worst part of the outbreak occurred during the afternoon hours of April 11 into the overnight hours going into April 12. The second-largest tornado outbreak on record at the time, this deadly series of tornadoes, which became known as the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, inflicted a swath of destruction from Cedar County, Iowa, to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and a swath 450 miles long (724 km) from Kent County, Michigan, to Montgomery County, Indiana. The main part of the outbreak lasted 16 hours and 35 minutes and is among the most intense outbreaks, in terms of tornado strength, ever recorded, including at least four "double/twin funnel" tornadoes. In all, the outbreak killed 266 people, injured 3,662 others, and caused $1.217 billion in damage. In 2023, tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis created the outbreak intensity score (OIS) as a way to rank various tornado outbreaks. The 1965 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak received an OIS of 238, making it the fourth worst tornado outbreak in recorded history.
On March 23, 1913—Easter Sunday—a devastating tornado outbreak affected the northern Great Plains and sections of the Upper Midwest, lasting approximately 31⁄2 hours. It was the most violent tornado outbreak to affect the northern Great Plains on so early a date in the year—a record that still stands as of 2020. That day, four F4 tornadoes affected portions of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, killing at least 168 people. The deadliest tornado of the day was a violent tornado, retroactively rated F4 on the present-day Fujita scale, that grew to 1⁄4 mile (440 yd) in width as it passed through northern Omaha, Nebraska, killing at least 94 people in the city proper and three in rural areas. Damage in Omaha reached at least F4, possibly even F5, intensity, though confirmation of F5 damage could not be determined from available evidence. The tornado is the 13th deadliest ever to affect the United States and the deadliest to hit the U.S. state of Nebraska as of 2014. No other violent tornado would affect Omaha for another 62 years. Outside the Great Plains, the outbreak of March 23 also produced two other F4 tornadoes, one each in Missouri and Indiana, including a devastating path more than 1⁄2 mi (880 yd) through southern Terre Haute, Indiana, killing 21 people and injuring 250. In all, tornadoes struck Nebraska, Iowa, Louisiana, Indiana, and Missouri, though only significant events were recorded and other, weaker tornadoes may have gone undetected.
The 1899 New Richmond tornado was an estimated F5 tornado that formed in the early evening of Monday, June 12, 1899, leaving a 45-mile-long (72 km) path of destruction through St. Croix, Polk, and Barron counties in west-central Wisconsin. A total of 117 fatalities, 125 injuries, and hundreds more were reported as homeless in its wake. The worst devastation occurred in the city of New Richmond, which took a direct hit from the storm. Over half of the town was left in ruins due to the tornado, which also caused minor damage to surrounding communities. The damage was reported to be over $300,000 (USD). As of 2019, it is ranked as the ninth deadliest tornado in United States history, as well as the deadliest ever recorded in Wisconsin.
From May 19–22, 1957, a tornado outbreak took place across the US Central Plains. A total of 59 tornadoes were reported from Colorado to the Mississippi Valley. The most destructive tornado of the severe weather event—likely part of a long-lived family—was rated at F5, the highest level, and is often called the Ruskin Heights tornado, after the site of its worst damage, a suburb and housing development in southern Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, a powerful F4 tornado virtually destroyed Fremont, Missouri, claiming seven lives, and an F3 tornado killed eight others in and near Belgrade, Missouri. A pair of F4s—one in Minnesota, the other in Kansas—also neared F5 intensity. In all, 59 people were killed during the outbreak, including 44 in the Ruskin Heights tornado.
A series of at least four tornadoes hit the Southeastern United States during March 3-4, 1966. The worst event was a violent and long-lived F5 tornado, dubbed the Candlestick Park tornado after the name of a recently opened Jackson, Mississippi shopping center that was leveled by the storm. The storm would bring catastrophic damage in Mississippi and Alabama along a 202.5-mile (325.9 km) track. The outbreak killed 58, injured 521, and caused $75.552 million in damage.
The 1905 Snyder, Oklahoma, tornado was a powerful tornado that struck the town of Snyder, Oklahoma, in Kiowa County on Wednesday, May 10, 1905. The event was one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the state of Oklahoma. The tornado killed 97 people, making it the second most deadly tornado in Oklahoma history. The tornado was part of a larger, multiple-day tornado outbreak that hit several states across the Midwestern United States, including Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.
The 1956 McDonald Chapel tornado was a deadly weather event that took place during the afternoon of Sunday April 15, 1956, across the Greater Birmingham area in Jefferson County, Alabama, with damage most severe in McDonald Chapel. The F4 tornado killed 25 people and injured 200 others. While only two known tornadoes touched down across the Southeastern United States on that day, the Birmingham tornado produced major devastation across areas west and north of downtown Birmingham.
The tornado outbreak sequence of May 1896 was a series of violent and deadly tornado outbreaks that struck much of the Central and Southern United States from May 15 to 28, 1896. It is considered one of the worst tornado outbreak sequences on record with tornado expert Tom Grazulis stating that the week of May 24–28 was "perhaps the most violent single week of tornado activity in United States history". There were four particularly notable tornado outbreaks during the two-week period. It produced three F5 tornadoes as well as the third deadliest tornado ever in United States history. A total of at least 484 people were killed during the entire outbreak sequence by at least 38 different tornadoes which struck Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.
Tornadoes are more common in the United States than in any other country or state. The United States receives more than 1,200 tornadoes annually—four times the amount seen in Europe. Violent tornadoes—those rated EF4 or EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale—occur more often in the United States than in any other country.
Ruskin Heights is a neighborhood in southeast Kansas City, Missouri, Jackson County. This neighborhood was made in the early 1950s as a postwar suburb on former farmland. It had a total population of 23,874 people in 2020, making it one of the most densely populated neighborhoods of Kansas City. It has a total land area of approximately 0.794 square miles (2.06 km2). It is mostly flat, but slightly elevated at some points. The ZIP Code is 64134.
On December 18–20, 1957, a significant tornado outbreak sequence affected the southern Midwest and the South of the contiguous United States. The outbreak sequence began on the afternoon of December 18, when a low-pressure area approached the southern portions of Missouri and Illinois. Supercells developed and proceeded eastward at horizontal speeds of 40 to 45 miles per hour, yielding what was considered the most severe tornado outbreak in Illinois on record so late in the calendar year. Total losses in the state were estimated to fall within the range of $8–$10 million.
National Weather Service - Pleasant Hill/Kansas City, Missouri is a Weather Forecast Office (WFO) of the National Weather Service, which is responsible for forecasts and the dissemination of weather warnings and advisories for 37 counties in northern and western Missouri and seven counties in extreme eastern Kansas, including the Kansas City and St. Joseph metropolitan areas. Though, as the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, Oklahoma is responsible for issuing severe thunderstorm and tornado watches, the Pleasant Hill/Kansas City WFO only composes outline and status updates for SPC-issued watches affecting any portion of its designated County Warning Area.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1974, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.
This page documents notable tornadoes and tornado outbreaks worldwide in 1973, but mostly features events in the United States. According to tornado researcher Thomas P. Grazulis, documentation of tornadoes outside the United States was historically less exhaustive, owing to the lack of monitors in many nations and, in some cases, to internal political controls on public information. Most countries only recorded tornadoes that produced severe damage or loss of life. Consequently, available documentation in 1973 mainly covered the United States. On average, most recorded tornadoes, including the vast majority of significant—F2 or stronger—tornadoes, form in the U.S., although as many as 500 may take place internationally. Some locations, like Bangladesh, are as prone to violent tornadoes as the U.S., meaning F4 or greater events on the Fujita scale.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1967, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.
A deadly and destructive outbreak sequence of 23 tornadoes struck parts of the Great Plains and the Great Lakes in late-June 1957. At least seven significant tornadoes (F2+) touched down during the outbreak sequence. The most devastating storm was a large, violent, and catastrophic 500-yard-wide F5 tornado family that struck Fargo, North Dakota on Thursday, June 20, 1957, killing 10 people and becoming the deadliest tornado ever recorded in North Dakota. The outbreak caused 11 fatalities, 105 injuries, and $25.883 million in damage.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1949, primarily in the United States. Most recorded tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1942, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes. Also, prior to 1950, tornadoes were not officially surveyed by the U.S. Weather Bureau, which would later become the National Weather Service, and thus had no official rating. All documented significant tornadoes were instead given unofficial ratings by tornado experts like Thomas P. Grazulis.
This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1947, primarily in the United States. Most recorded tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.
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