Tornadoes of 1900

Grazulis's record has 51 significant tornadoes in the United States in 1900, which killed 101 people and injured 472. 3 were rated F4 or above. Before 1950 the record is Thomas P. Grazulis’s list of significant tornadoes: those rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody.

1899 1901

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. Grazulis rated these tornadoes on the Fujita scale decades after the fact, from written accounts of the damage. The scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
Grazulis gave no rating: the surviving account records a tornado without enough about the damage to rate it. Almost all of these are before 1880.

The violent tornadoes of 1900

The deadliest of 1900

By state

Filed under the state each path begins in.

State	Significant tornadoes
Kansas	13
Mississippi	6
Texas	5
Nebraska	5
Alabama	4
Missouri	3
Michigan	3
Iowa	3
Georgia	2
Minnesota	2
Tennessee	2
Colorado	1
Arkansas	1
North Carolina	1

Every significant tornado of 1900

Times are local standard time, where the record has one. Blank cells are not recorded.

April 15 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 15	4:30 PM CST	F3	E Putnam, KS
April 15	7:00 PM CST	F2	Royse City, TX	3.7	70		2

April 16 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 16	5:30 PM CST	F3	NW Concordia, MO	3.0	50		6
April 16	6:00 PM CST	F2	N Marshall, MO	2.3

April 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 24	2:00 PM CST	F2	SE Wymore, NE

May 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 5		F2	Wilsonville, NE
May 5	5:00 PM CST	F4	Wilsonville, NE	12.2	800		15

May 6 17 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
May 6		F2	W Jetmore, KS			1
May 6	4:00 PM CST	F2	N Rhome, TX	5.1
May 6	4:50 PM CST	F2	E Ellsworth, KS
May 6	5:00 PM CST	F2	N Ellsworth, KS	3.8	50
May 6	5:00 PM CST	F2	N Kanapolis, KS
May 6	5:00 PM CST	F2	SW Great Bend, KS
May 6	5:30 PM CST	F2	SW Ellsworth, KS
May 6	5:30 PM CST	F2	NE Claflin, KS
May 6	5:30 PM CST	F3	N Ellinwood/Cheyenne Bottoms, KS	6.0	70	2	11
May 6	5:30 PM CST	F3	NW Ellinwood to NNE Great Bend, KS	5.6	200
May 6	5:50 PM CST	F3	NE Ellsworth, KS	3.2	70
May 6	6:20 PM CST	F2	N Justin, TX	1.3	50
May 6	7:15 PM CST	F2	N Lewisville, TX	8.6	200		5
May 6	7:30 PM CST	F2	NE Belleville, KS	1.7
May 6	7:30 PM CST	F2	Cuba, KS	2.1
May 6	7:30 PM CST	F3	N Fillmore to NNW Bolckow, MO	8.9
May 6	9:30 PM CST	F3	NW Paris/Blossom, TX	9.6

June 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	4:10 PM CST	F2	W Elk Creek, NE	5.0	50

June 13 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 13	11:00 AM EST	F2	S Mason, MI	15.1	50		1
June 13	12:00 PM EST	F2	E Battle Creek, MI	14.9

June 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16		F2	SW Table Rock, NE

June 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 17	5:00 PM MST	F2	NW Akron, CO	15.1	200

July 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 7	1:30 PM EST	F2	NE Penn/SW Wakelee, MI	9.9

September 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 7		F2	Doerun, GA
September 7	3:00 PM EST	F2	Madison, GA	0.9	500		2

September 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 24	5:10 PM CST	F2	Morristown, MN	8.1	40	8	8

September 25 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
September 25	7:45 PM CST	F2	Sharpsburg, IA	5.4	200
September 25	8:00 PM CST	F2	N Afton, IA	2.1	25		6
September 25	8:15 PM CST	F3	SW Haverhill, Ferguson, IA	7.5	70	2	11

October 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 6	3:50 PM CST	F3	Biwabik, MN	0.7	70	10	8

November 20 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
November 20	1:00 PM CST	F3	S Stuttgart/Yoder/W Blackton/Moro to Oak Forest, AR	45.7	300	6	40
November 20	2:45 PM CST	F4	Moon Lake MS/La Grange, TN	89.4	500	30	100
November 20	4:30 PM CST	F2	Tutwiler/N Sumner/Batesville, MS	34.4	100		15
November 20	5:30 PM CST	F3	E Hamilton, AL		200		11
November 20	6:00 PM CST	F3	S Franklin/Thompson Station/Clovercroft/Nolensville to LaVergne, TN	24.8	200	9	40
November 20	7:00 PM CST	F2	Cayce, MS/Moscow, TN	16.9		3	25
November 20	7:00 PM CST	F2	Huntingdon/N Cleveland/N Charleston/Enid, MS	94.8			30
November 20	7:00 PM CST	F2	Bethlehem/Tacaleeche/Corinth, MS	55.3	200	2	40
November 20	9:30 PM CST	F4	Columbia, TN	7.9	300	27	75

November 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 21	2:30 AM CST	F2	NE Huntsville, AL	3.1	100

November 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 26	12:10 AM EST	F2	Tarboro, NC

December 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 22		F2	S Cookeville, MS		200	1	18

December 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 23	2:00 AM CST	F2	Wilmer, AL		400
December 23	2:30 AM CST	F2	W Greenville, AL		70		3

About the record before 1950

Significant tornadoes only: Grazulis listed tornadoes rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody. Most tornadoes are weaker than F2, so the list holds a fraction of the tornadoes that happened.
The early years are thin: A tornado is on record only where somebody saw it and wrote it down. The count rises through the 1800s with settlement and newspapers, not with the weather.
Rated from accounts: Grazulis rated each tornado decades later from newspaper reports, Weather Bureau records and local histories, not from a damage survey.
The tracks are reconstructed: Tornado Archive drew each path through the places Grazulis names, most often as a straight line from the first to the last. A track can miss a town it hit, and a tornado with one named place is a point. The counties are today’s.
A separate record: SPC’s database, from 1950, counts every confirmed tornado of any strength. The two are kept apart on every page and never added together.

Nearby

Every year before 1950 1950, the first year of SPC's database The tornado profiles

What this means

Ratings are Grazulis's, read from written accounts of the damage; the rating scale is above. About the record before 1950 says what it holds and what it leaves out.

Sources

Thomas P. Grazulis, Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991 and Significant Tornadoes 1880-1989, as digitized by Tornado Archive (Maas and others, 2024). Public domain. Counties assigned by this site from today’s NWS county lines.