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Portal:Tornadoes/Anniversaries/March

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March 1

  • 1997 – After producing a handful of weak tornadoes the previous day, a major tornado outbreak stuck the eastern United States, killing 27 people. Most of the deaths and intense tornadoes were in Arkansas. The worst impacts were from an F4 tornado that devastated Shannon Hills and suburbs of Little Rock, killing 15 people and injuring 220. Another F4 tornado caused major damage in Arkadelphia, killing 6 people and injuring 111.

March 2


March 3


March 4

  • 1961 – An F2 tornado struck Chicago, damaging more than 3,000 homes, of which 617 had severe damage. One person was killed and 115 were injured. Damage totaled more than $7 million, equivalent to $71 million in 2023.
  • 1964 – A few strong tornadoes affected the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. An F4 tornado destroyed 24 homes, with 5 completely swept away, near Kirksey and Hardin, Kentucky, killing three people. An F3 tornado killed one person near Waldo, Arkansas.

March 5

  • 1963 – An F4 tornado moved through Bessemer, Alabama and other communities south and southwest of Birmingham, destroying 29 homes and damaging more than 240 others. Thirty-five people were injured.
  • 1989 – A small tornado outbreak affected the Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. An F2 tornado traveled 53 mi (85 km) in eastern Alabama and western Georgia killing one person in a trailer near Franklin, Georgia and injuring six. An F3 tornado hit Grantville, Georgia, injuring 23 people, including 8 in the destruction of a newly-built motel. A trailer park and subdivision were also hit and a total of 86 homes were damaged or destroyed.
  • 2022 – Seven people in Iowa died as the result of a tornado outbreak. A long-track EF4 tornado killed six people near Winterset, four of them in one family, and caused damage in the suburbs of Des Moines, amounting to $220 million.

March 6

  • 1996 – A tornado outbreak affected parts of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. An F3 tornado killed 4 people and injured 40 as it hit a trailer park the northwest side of Selma, Alabama. Four tornadoes struck Montgomery, Alabama. The strongest, rated F2, hit a mobile home park on the east side of the city, killing 2 people and injuring 17.

March 7

  • 2008 – A small tornado outbreak affected parts of Florida and Georgia. An EF2 tornado destroyed 19 homes and damaged 41 others in Lake City, Florida, killing one person and injuring five. Another person died as an indirect result of the tornado while trying to connect a power generator.

March 8

  • 1871 – An F3 tornado moved through East St. Louis, Illinois after crossing the Mississippi River, killing nine people. Six railroad depots and about 30 homes were destroyed.
  • 1909 – An F4 tornado devastated Brinkley, Arkansas. More than 800 buildings, including 260 homes, were destroyed and more than 2,000 were damaged. In all, 49 people killed, including 7 people in nearby rural areas. Entire families were killed. Other tornadoes killed 18 people across Arkansas.

March 9

  • 1901 – A tornado outbreak resulted in 14 deaths across the Central United States, with three tornadoes accounting for most of the fatalities. An F3 tornado killed four people in Wills Point, Texas, where 20 homes were unroofed or destroyed. Another F3 tornado killed four people near Forrest City, Arkansas. An F2 tornado killed four more people near Paragould, Arkansas and destroyed 10 of the 12 homes in the community of "Jackson."

March 10


March 11

  • 1917 – An F4 tornado damaged or destroyed 350 buildings on the south side of New Castle, Indiana, killing 24 people in all and injuring 110. An F3 tornado killed three people in Cincinnati.
  • 1923 – An F5 tornado completely swept away about a quarter of Pinson, Tennessee, killing 20 people and injuring 70. Bodies and body parts were carried for up to a mile.

March 12

  • 2006 – Fifty-five tornadoes touched down across the Midwestern United States as part of a larger outbreak sequence, killing eight people. An F3 tornado killed four people and injured 26 near Renick, Missouri, including 13 people on a bus that it overturned. An F2 tornado injured 13 people near Fordland, Missouri, including one man who was carried 1,307 ft (398 m), the greatest distance that a person has been carried by a tornado and survived.

March 13


March 14

  • 1933 – A major tornado outbreak killed 44 people in Tennessee. An F3 tornado moved through downtown Nashville, damaging the State Capitol and killing 15 people, including 11 in the city. An F4 tornado devastated Pruden, killing 12 people and injuring 162. Another F3 tornado or tornado family killed 16 people and injured 235 as it moved through several rural communities and the city of Kingsport.

March 15


March 16


March 17

  • 1894 – Part of a larger four-day outbreak sequence, an F4 tornado destroyed much of the western part of Emory, Texas, killing 4 people and injuring 40. The same tornado may have also struck Sulphur Springs at F2 intensity, inuring 5 others. One, possibly two other people were killed by an F2 tornado near Celeste, Texas.
  • 1985 – An F3 tornado struck the southern side of Venice, Florida, destroying 55 homes, many of them well-constructed, and damaging 220 others. Two people died and 45 were injured.

March 18


March 19


March 20


March 21


March 22

  • 1991 – An outbreak of 23 tornado hit the central and southern United States, resulting in six deaths and 76 injuries. The greatest casualties were from an F3 tornado that hit Selmer and Lawton, Tennessee, killing four people and injuring 45. Damage was worst in Selmer, where three of the deaths occurred and 65 houses and 28 mobile homes were destroyed. An F2 tornado killed an 11-year-old boy near Lickskillet, Logan County, Kentucky, and another F2 tornado killed an infant in Hohenwald, Tennessee.

March 23

  • 1913 – Part of a larger outbreak sequence, an F4 (possibly F5) tornado devastated the western and northern portions of Omaha, Nebraska, killing 103 people. Other tornadoes on that day killed a total of 89 people, mostly across the Midwestern United States. These included an F4 tornado that killed 24 people in Terre Haute, Indiana and another that killed 25 people in several communities in Nebraska and Iowa, including 17 in Yutan, Nebraska.
  • 1917 – An F4 tornado moved through the north side of New Albany, Indiana, destroying 300 homes, many of which were swept away. At least 46 people (possibly up to 53) were killed and 250 were injured.

March 24

  • 1975 – An F3 tornado moved through the western and northern parts of Atlanta, Georgia, killing three people and injuring 152. There was major damage to an industrial area and to many homes and businesses, including the governor's mansion, leading this event to be called the "Governor's Tornado."

March 25

  • 1948 – A tornado hit Tinker Air Force Base for the second time in five days, damaging or destroying 84 planes and injuring one person. The possibility of tornadoes was noted by Air Force meteorologists, marking the first time that tornadoes were successfully forecast.

March 26

  • 1948 – A tornado outbreak killed 23 people in the Midwestern and Southern United States. Most of the deaths were from a tornado family in central Indiana that killed 19 people. Tis totalincluded 14 deaths in Coatesville, where 80% of the buildings were damaged or destroyed.
  • 1949 – A total of 28 people were killed by a tornado outbreak across parts of the Southern United States. Most of the deaths were from an F4 tornado that destroyed about 100 homes near England, Arkansas and killed 18 people. An F3 tornado killed 5 people across parts of Woodruff and Jackson counties, Arkansas.
  • 1976 – An F5 tornado swept away several homes on the south side of Spiro, Oklahoma, killing two people and injuring 64.

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March 31