Weather

Seventy-five years of American tornadoes

Every tornado logged by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center since 1950 — — of them, each drawn from where it touched down to where it lifted. Press play and the years accrete: the faint haze of thousands of weak twisters, and the deep-red spokes of the rare violent ones, settling into the shape of Tornado Alley. Tap or hover any track for its date and toll.

—

EF / Fujita rating

EF0 weakEF3EF5 violent

Dots are touchdown-only reports (no end point logged)

Data & source

Source: NOAA SPC Severe Weather Database (WCM), 1950–2025, public domain. Updated —.

Scope & caveats. Every tornado recorded by the SPC, not every tornado that occurred. The apparent rise over time is largely observational: before Doppler radar (roughly pre-1990s) weak tornadoes went uncounted, and rating practice has shifted (the EF scale replaced the older F scale in 2007). Read the early record as an undercount, not a like-for-like comparison. The most recent year is provisional and still being reviewed; some tornadoes are "not rated." Across the whole record the SPC logs — fatalities.

Tornadoes by rating, 1950–2025
Rating	Count
EF0 (weak)	33,329
EF1	25,179
EF2	10,079
EF3	2,669
EF4	596
EF5 (violent)	60
Not rated	1,546