1925: The Tri-State Tornado

1925: The Tri-State Tornado

Author: AccuWeather March 18, 2022 Duration: 1:56
Early spring often brings the most violent weather to the nation’s midsection of the entire year. High in the atmosphere, up where the jet stream is, temperatures can still be almost as cold as they are in mid-winter, yet down on the ground temperatures can soar to at times close to summer-time levels. The extreme temperature contrast, that occurs at no other time of the year, combined with turning winds from the surface up into higher levels of the air leads to the formation of severe thunderstorms and multiple tornados. On March 18, 1925 perhaps the greatest severe weather event in the last two centuries was brewing. By the time the day was over what would be known as the Tristate tornado produced the single most devastating tornado ever. The tornado began near Ellington, Missouri and averaged 62 mph in forward speed as it moved northeastward. The tornado was 1 mile wide and was on the ground for 219 miles the longest continuous tornado path ever observed. 85 farms were destroyed near Owensville, Indiana, and the entire town of Griffin, Indiana, was totally destroyed. A total of 695 deaths were reported with 2,027 injured there alone from that single tornado alone. There was $16.5 million worth of damage or almost a quarter of a billion in 2021 dollars. 11 other tornadoes the same day killed 50 more elsewhere, including 33 at a school in Desoto, IL.

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Every day has a story written in the wind and rain, and This Date in Weather History uncovers those narratives. With AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Myers as your guide, this daily podcast connects the present to pivotal moments where weather dramatically altered the course of events. You might hear about a forgotten blizzard that stranded a city, a hurricane that redirected a war, or a simple shift in the breeze that allowed a historic discovery. It’s more than just a list of facts; it’s a look at how the atmosphere has been a relentless and fascinating character in the human drama. Each brief episode offers a specific, grounded tale, revealing how the climate has shaped cultures, economies, and personal lives in ways we often overlook. Tune in for a thoughtful blend of meteorology and historical context, delivered with the authority of AccuWeather. This podcast turns the calendar into a map of atmospheric intrigue, reminding us that the past is always present in the sky above.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

This Date in Weather History
Podcast Episodes
1774: 4" of snow falls in Germantown, Philadelphia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:37
The neighborhood of Germantown in Philadelphia sits at a higher elevation than most of the rest of the city. From 250-300 feet above sea level the temperature can average a degree or two colder than the city below. Durin…
1978: 11" of rain falls on "Sun Day" in New Orleans [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:20
Most of New Orleans, Louisiana is below the flowing water level of the Mississippi River, that also means that the city is below sea level and so both the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain surfaces are also above the…
2009: Storm collapses roof of Dallas Cowboys' practice facility [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:24
Twelve people were hospitalized Saturday May 2, 2009 after the roof of the Dallas Cowboys' indoor practice facility in Frisco, Texas collapsed during a thunderstorm. The giant blue Cowboys star atop the building lay crum…
1854: 90 consecutive hours of rain falls in New England [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:05
The winter of 1853-1854 had been a particularly snowy one across the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. Not record breaking, but it was a cold winter and the snows that fell during the winter months didn’t melt much…
1887: Massive Flooding at China's "Yellow River" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:43
The Huang He (Wang He) or Yellow River is one of the longest rivers in China, at 3,398 miles, it loops northward from the mountains in western China, then flows east, each year bringing 1.6 billion tons of fine-grained s…
1991: Tropical storm surge floods Bangladesh [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:15
On April 22, 1991 an area of tropical thunderstorms began to organize in the Bay of Bengal it would grow to become one of the deadliest tropical cyclones ever recorded. The storm hit, one of the most populated areas in B…
1992: "Grapefruit-sized" hail devastates parts of Texas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:11
A hailstone begins as a water droplet that is swept upward by an updraft inside of a thundercloud. Inside the cloud, there are a large number of other supercooled water droplets already present. These supercooled particl…
2004: High temperatures smash records across Southern California [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:05
Santa Ana Winds occur when air from an area of high pressure over the dry, desert region of the southwestern U.S. flows westward in its clockwise circulation toward the California coast. This creates dry winds that flow…
1986: The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:42
The Chernobyl, Russia nuclear disaster was the worst nuclear disaster in history and occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Plant. A catastrophic eruption ripped through the power plant on April 26, 1986, spewing radi…
1982: Lightning strike damages Alabama town's water supply [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:02
Most lightning strikes occur from cloud to cloud – but about 20% go from clouds to the ground. Lightening striking the ground has caused problems with pipes and water supplies.. Some people have also experienced cloudy o…