Tornado profiles
Notable tornadoes, documented in depth: the setup, the track, the damage survey, the science and the aftermath. Profiles from 1991 onward link into the Level II radar archive at the exact moments they describe, so every claim about what the radar showed can be replayed. Earlier profiles document what the radar of their day could see.
A tornado's public record is scattered: the National Weather Service survey in one place, the Storm Prediction Center's forecast in another, the research measurements in a conference talk, the human account across a hundred news articles. These profiles gather it, cite it, and pair it with the full-resolution radar record, scan by scan, in the browser.
These are fifteen tornadoes out of the 73,458 on record. Every one of the rest has a page too, in the tornado archive, and the tornado section is the way into both.
Profiles
| Tornado | Date | Rating | Path | Deaths | Noted for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenfield, Iowa | 2024-05-21 | EF4 | 42.4 mi | 5 | Among the fastest winds ever measured, over a town |
| El Reno, Oklahoma | 2013-05-31 | EF3 | 16.2 mi | 8 | The widest ever recorded, at 2.6 miles |
| Moore, Oklahoma | 2013-05-20 | EF5 | 14 mi | 24 | Two elementary schools, and the shelter argument after |
| Joplin, Missouri | 2011-05-22 | EF5 | 22.1 mi | 158 | The deadliest US tornado since 1947 |
| Tuscaloosa, Alabama | 2011-04-27 | EF4 | 80.7 mi | 64–66 | Broadcast live across a city, on the worst tornado day on record |
| Mayfield, Kentucky | 2021-12-10 | EF4 | 165.6 mi | 57 | The deadliest December tornado on record |
| Hackleburg-Phil Campbell, Alabama | 2011-04-27 | EF5 | 132 mi | 72 | The deadliest of the 2011 outbreak, and how long it really was |
| Bridge Creek-Moore, Oklahoma | 1999-05-03 | F5 | 38 mi | 36 | The fastest wind ever measured, and the first tornado emergency |
| Plainfield, Illinois | 1990-08-28 | F5 | 16.4 mi | 29 | The only August F5, and no warning was issued |
| Xenia, Ohio | 1974-04-03 | F5 | 16 mi | 34 | The Super Outbreak's deadliest, and Fujita's only F6 |
| Tri-State (Missouri, Illinois, Indiana) | 1925-03-18 | F5 | 219 mi | 695 | The deadliest and longest-tracked tornado in US history |
| Jarrell, Texas | 1997-05-27 | F5 | 7.6 mi | 27 | A subdivision erased at walking pace; the rating engineers questioned |
| Greensburg, Kansas | 2007-05-04 | EF5 | 28.8 mi | 11 | The first EF5, and 95 percent of a town at night |
| Smithville, Mississippi | 2011-04-27 | EF5 | 37.3 mi | 23 | An SUV in the water tower, seen by a radar twelve miles away |
| Enderlin, North Dakota | 2025-06-20 | EF5 | 12.1 mi | 3 | The first EF5 since 2013, rated on a derailed train |
More profiles are in preparation. To retrieve the radar for any storm not yet profiled, search the archive by date and time, or open the archive entry for the tornado itself.