On what date did the Tri-State Tornado occur?

The Tri-State Tornado occurred on March 18, 1925. It struck during the afternoon, traveling through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana in one of the most catastrophic tornado events in United States history.

The tornado touched down around midday in southeastern Missouri and remained destructive for hours as it moved northeastward. It devastated towns and rural communities across the three states, killing 695 people according to the commonly cited confirmed total and injuring more than 2,000 others. The disaster occurred before modern tornado-warning systems and before the Fujita damage scale was introduced.

The date is sometimes confused with later landmark tornado events, including the May 3, 1999 Oklahoma tornado, the May 22, 2011 Joplin tornado, and the April 3, 1974 Super Outbreak. Those dates refer to different disasters. The 1925 event is also called the 1925 Tri-State Tornado because its traditional path crossed three states.