Tornadoes of 1915

Grazulis's record has 57 significant tornadoes in the United States in 1915, which killed 84 people and injured 477. 9 were rated F4 or above, 1 of them F5. Before 1950 the record is Thomas P. Grazulis’s list of significant tornadoes: those rated F2 or stronger, and weaker ones that killed somebody.

1914 1916

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 1915

The deadliest of 1915

By state

Filed under the state each path begins in.

State	Significant tornadoes
Kansas	9
Texas	6
South Carolina	6
Nebraska	5
Mississippi	4
South Dakota	4
Iowa	3
Alabama	3
Oklahoma	2
Missouri	2
Illinois	2
Virginia	2
Arkansas	2
Louisiana	1
Tennessee	1
Wisconsin	1
Colorado	1
Indiana	1
Georgia	1
Florida	1

Every significant tornado of 1915

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

April 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 18	6:00 PM CST	F2	Naruna/Lake Victor, TX	10.4	100		3

April 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 21	4:30 PM CST	F2	E Childress, TX	4.6	200

April 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 22	5:00 PM CST	F2	Lindale, TX	5.4	100		3

May 1 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 1	12:00 PM MST	F3	N Lewellen, NE	15.2
May 1	9:15 PM CST	F3	W Fullerton, NE	8.3

May 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 5	5:00 AM CST	F2	Weinert, TX				15

May 6 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
May 6	10:00 AM CST	F2	Sulphur, OK	4.0	75		8
May 6		F2	W Egan/Mermentau, LA	4.6		6
May 6	1:15 PM CST	F2	W Clarksdale/Jonestown, MS	11.0	200	6	10
May 6	8:30 PM CST	F2	Gadsden/Mansfield, TN	49.2		4	15

May 7 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
May 7	3:00 AM CST	F2	N Macon, MS		400	1	8
May 7		F2	NW Sumter/N Darlington, SC	49.9		1	10
May 7		F2	Kershaw, SC		100		4
May 7		F2	N Society Hill/W Bennettsville, SC	20.1		4	11
May 7	2:30 PM EST	F2	Newberry, SC				10
May 7	4:10 PM EST	F3	Manning, SC		150	4	17

May 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 15	5:30 AM CST	F4	S Rule to NW Haskell, TX	15.8	100	2	10

May 20 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 20	6:25 PM CST	F2	Springfield, MO	3.1	100
May 20	11:00 PM CST	F2	Mason City, IL	5.0

May 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 22	7:30 PM CST	F2	W Fort Davis, TX	0.9	400

May 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 24	6:45 PM MST	F2	NW Redig, SD	4.0

May 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	7:30 PM CST	F3	SE Spalding/NW Primrose, SC	10.0	400	1	6

May 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 26	3:30 PM CST	F2	Talihina, OK	4.8		2	4

June 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	5:15 PM CST	F2	Elgin, NE	5.8	100		3
June 5	5:30 PM CST	F2	S Oakdale, NE				1

June 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	7:30 PM CST	F5	Mullinville, KS	14.6	1,500
June 11	8:00 PM CST	F3	Stafford County, KS	14.5	200

June 12 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
June 12	4:15 PM CST	F4	S West Union to S Postville, IA	13.5	100		1
June 12	5:20 PM CST	F4	NW Waterville, IA to Soldiers Grove, WI	30.4	400	9	50
June 12	6:35 PM CST	F4	Reedsburg, WI	10.3	150	1	15

June 16 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 16	4:00 PM CST	F2	Blunt, SD	1.5			2
June 16	4:30 PM CST	F2	Highmore, SD	19.8			3

June 17 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
June 17	4:00 PM CST	F4	Onaga, KS	7.0	100	5	5
June 17	4:15 PM CST	F3	NW Blurington/S Sharp/W Waverly/NW Halls Summit, KS	14.5	300
June 17	9:00 PM CST	F2	Fort Scott, KS	3.2	200		5

June 30 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 30	12:00 PM MST	F3	SW Lamar, CO		200	1	5
June 30	6:10 PM CST	F2	NW McCune, KS	0.9	70

July 7 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
July 7	12:00 PM CST	F3	Lawrenceville, IL	2.7		1	1
July 7	3:25 PM CST	F2	Wentzville/Gilmore/O'Fallon/St. Peter, MO	14.1		4	20
July 7	7:00 PM EST	F2	Bedford, IN		100	2	10

July 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 10	11:00 PM CST	F2	New London, IA			1	5

August 3 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 3		F2	Milford, VA	2.6	200
August 3		F2	S Petersburg, VA	5.2			3

August 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 20	5:30 PM EST	F2	Greenville, SC	5.3	30	1	15

September 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 4	3:00 PM EST	F2	E Marshallville, GA	15.1	150

November 10 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
November 10	5:00 PM CST	F2	Hartford, SD	10.0			4
November 10	7:00 PM CST	F4	Great Bend, KS	35.4	300	11	75
November 10	7:45 PM CST	F2	Pratt, KS	3.0	30		1
November 10	10:00 PM CST	F4	Derby, KS	16.1	200	4	28

November 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 25	3:10 PM CST	F4	Hot Springs, AR	15.5	200	10	45
November 25	3:30 PM CST	F2	W Bodcaw/Cale, AR	12.0	300	1	14

November 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 26	7:30 AM CST	F2	Floridatown/Pace, FL	1.8	100

December 17 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
December 17	4:00 AM CST	F2	SE Scooba, MS/Geiger, AL	10.5		2	5
December 17	4:00 AM CST	F2	Preston, MS
December 17	5:00 AM CST	F2	Millport, AL		400		16
December 17		F2	Montgomery, AL				1
December 17		F2	Mountain Creek, AL				10

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.