This page documents the tornadoes and tornado outbreaks of 1957, primarily in the United States. Most tornadoes form in the U.S., although some events may take place internationally. Tornado statistics for older years like this often appear significantly lower than modern years due to fewer reports or confirmed tornadoes.

Events

1957 was the most active tornado season on record at the time as multiple tornado outbreaks repeatedly hit the same areas. Texas was especially hard hit throughout the year. April and May both saw a record-breaking 200+ tornadoes with numerous outbreaks throughout the months.

United States yearly total

January There were 17 tornadoes confirmed in the US in January.

January 21–22

A tornado outbreak sequence of 16 tornadoes struck the US. The outbreak started on January 21, when a rare and destructive F1 tornado moved through areas north of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The next day, a large, long-tracked 1/4 mile wide F2 tornado moved through St. Louis, Wewoka, Wetumka, Weleetka, Henryetta, and Schulter, Oklahoma causing major damage along its 63.7 mile path. Later, a brief, but large, violent .5 mile-wide F4 tornado tore through the northeast side of Gans, Oklahoma, killing 10, injuring 20 and completely destroying many homes. This tornado also produced extreme ground scouring before entering into Gans, digging a trench up to deep in one instance. Another .5 mile-wide F2 tornado then tore through areas north of Bismarck, Arkansas. After that, an F3 tornado tore through areas northeast of Princeton, Louisiana in east-northeastern suburbs of Shreveport killing three and injuring nine. An F1 tornado then hit Kennett, Missouri, injuring one. The last tornado to cause casualties was a very narrow, but strong F2 tornado then tore through areas just south of Downtown Nashville, hitting the suburban town of Belle Meade, Tennessee near the beginning of its path, destroying a home and a church, damaging numerous other buildings, and injuring four people. Overall, the outbreak killed 13 and injured 31.

February There were 5 tornadoes confirmed in the US in February.

March There were 38 tornadoes confirmed in the US in March.

March 17

An outbreak of eight tornadoes hit the Southeastern Greater Houston and Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area. It started with an F2 tornado that hit Santa Fe and Dickinson, injuring four. Later, a brief, but fatal F2 tornado hit the northwest side of Texas City, killing one and injuring seven. An F2 tornado moved over Galveston Bay near Goat Island, injuring four. The last tornado of the outbreak was an F2 storm in Groves. In the end, the outbreak in Texas killed one and injured 15.

March 20–21

Another outbreak of four tornadoes hit Texas on March 20. The first tornado of the outbreak was an F3 storm in rural Lee County that injured two. Minutes later, a mile-wide F3 tornado touched down just north of the previous one, injuring two when it the town of Dime Box. The next day, an isolated, but strong F3 tornado hit areas northwest of Montegut, Louisiana, injuring two. In the end, the outbreak injured six.

March 31 – April 1

Yet another outbreak of 12 tornadoes struck Texas and Louisiana, with three additional tornadoes in Alabama and Tennessee. On March 31, a half-mile wide F2 tornado hit the north-northwest side of the far northwestern San Antonio suburb of Boerne. Another F2 tornado then hit the north side of Austin. Yet another F2 tornado briefly touched down on the eastern side of the Northern Austin suburb of Round Rock. The fourth consecutive F2 tornado then moved directly through Huntsville, Texas, injuring two. Later, in Louisiana, an F2 tornado hit areas northwest of Lake Arthur. A large, 1000 yard wide F1 tornado struck areas northeast of Laplace. Another F1 tornado injured three in Boothville-Venice. In Alabama, an F1 tornado moved off of Mobile Bay and into the Eastern Mobile and Spanish Fort, injuring four. The next day, a brief, isolated, but strong F2 tornado hit the south side of Medon, Tennessee. In the end, a total of nine people were injured as a result of these tornadoes.

April There were 216 tornadoes confirmed in the US in April. This was the first time that over 200 tornadoes were confirmed in a single month in the US.

April 2–5

Yet another tornado outbreak hit Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee. However, this time it was part of a violent, destructive, and deadly outbreak sequence of 72 tornadoes that struck a large portion of the Midwest and the Southeast. On April 2, the first major tornado of the outbreak occurred in rural Grayson County, Texas, where a brief, but strong F2 tornado injured two. Later, an F3 tornado hit the west side of Melissa and Van Alstyne injuring four. This was followed by a well-documented multi-vortex F3 tornado that hit the north side of Dallas. The tornado was highly visible and hundreds of photos and videos were taken of it, allowing meteorologists to get a first-hand look at the characteristics of tornado like they had never seen before, making it one of the most studied tornadoes ever at the time. Unfortunately, it came at a heavy price; 10 people were killed, 200 were injured, and damages were estimated at $4 million.

Tornado activity continued into Oklahoma. A large, 600 yard wide F2 tornado killed one and injured two in rural Murray County. A violent F4 tornado then hit Lake Texoma State Park east of Kingston and south of Cumberland, killing two and injuring six. Another violent F4 tornado then tore directly through Calera and Durant, killing three and injuring three. Back in Texas, an F3 tornado injured one in rural Wise County and a brief, but fatal F2 tornado killed one and injured two west of Roxton.

Tornado activity continued into April 3. An F3 tornado hit Bono, Arkansas early that afternoon. Later, an F2 tornado hit Future City, Urbandale, and Golden Lily, Illinois, injuring five. An F1 tornado also injured four in rural Washington County, Mississippi.

April 4 saw fewer but a return of deadly tornado activity. Just after midnight back in Mississippi, a long-tracked F2 tornado hit Brooksville and Deerbrook, injuring four on its 40.7-mile path. This was followed by an even stronger F3 tornado that tore a path of destruction 40.2 miles long, hitting the towns of Magee and Montrose, killing one and injuring 75. Later, another F3 tornado hit Eastview, Tennessee, injuring 11.

April 5 saw a final day of weaker, but still deadly, tornado activity mainly during the early morning hours. A large, long-tracked F2 tornado moved through a large portion of Central Georgia, striking many communities south of Macon, including the northwestern side of Warner Robins, killing two and injuring five along its 75-mile path. This was the fourth destructive tornado to hit Warner Robins during the 1950s, with two of them occurring in 1953 while the other was in 1954. Later, another F2 tornado moved through the Southeastern Summit, Gilbert, and Northwestern Northwestern Lexington, South Carolina, injuring two. A brief F1 tornado injured one in rural Ware County, Georgia. North of East Stone Gap, Virginia in Northeastern Big Stone Gap, three people were injured by another brief F1 tornado. Another brief, but strong F2 tornado injured one southeast of Middletown, Indiana. The final tornado of the outbreak was an F1 storm that injured one southeast of Horneytown, North Carolina north of High Point.

In the end, the outbreak killed 21 and injured 338. However, the Dallas tornado led to revolutionary changes in the radar system and the engineering of structures to withstand the high winds of tornadoes. At the time, winds in the strongest tornadoes were estimated to be up to 700+ mph. The footage of the Dallas tornado, as well as wind engineering, not only disproved this but also helped to formulate more accurate wind speeds in tornadoes. This eventually led to the creation of the Fujita Scale to rate tornadoes.

April 7–8 (Southeastern United States)

Another violent outbreak of 18 tornadoes struck the Southeast. It started on April 7, when an F2 tornado tore through Northwestern Waldron, Arkansas. The next morning in Alabama, a long-tracked F3 tornado hit Hamilton, Southern Haleyville, Ashridge, Grayson, and Southwestern Andrews Chapel, although there were no casualties along the 51.4 mile path. That was not the case when a second long-tracked F3 tornado tore through Southern Falkville (which had been hit two years earlier by an F4 tornado) and Apple Grove, killing two and injuring 90. A third F3 tornado hit the north sides of Joppa and Arab before moving onto Lake Guntersville.

That afternoon, an F2 tornado injured five in Calhoun, Georgia. Another F2 tornado hit Cross Keys, South Carolina before moving through rural Union County, injuring two. A large F3 tornado moved through the north side of Jacksonville, Georgia, killing one and injuring three. Later, a long-tracked F4 tornado family hit Jefferson, South Carolina before moving through Southern Laurinburg, St. Pauls, and Roseboro, North Carolina, killing four and injuring 70. An F1 tornado then hit the Norfolk Naval Base, injuring two. Another person was injured east of Benevolence, Georgia by F2 tornado. Later, a violent F4 tornado moved directly through Downtown Pembroke, North Carolina, injuring 21. The final tornado of the outbreak was a strong F3 tornado that injured 29 near Rose Hill and Magnolia, North Carolina. In the end, the outbreak killed seven and injured 223.

April 12

Two weak tornadoes struck Oregon. The first was an F1 tornado near Sandy. The F0 tornado then tracked an unusually long 16.2 miles through rural Gilliam and Morrow Counties. There were no casualties with either tornado.

April 18–27

An extremely active period of tornadoes took place towards the end of April as daily tornado outbreaks occurred for 10 straight days. The tornado outbreak sequence produced 117 tornadoes across an area from Colorado and New Mexico to New York.

The first major tornado occurred on April 18, when an F3 tornado hit rural Grayson County, Texas. The next day, all the casualties occurred in Wisconsin. A violent F4 tornado struck New Lisbon at the beginning of its path through Juneau County, killing one. Later, an F2 tornado hit Saxeville in Waushara County, injuring one. Another F2 tornado injured two on the south side of Burlington. A large F3 tornado also struck Glendale and Kendall. April 20 then saw a brief, but destructive F1 tornado injure one in Duncan, Oklahoma.

Tornado activity ramped again on April 21. A half-mile wide F4 tornado tore through Whitharral and Littlefield, Texas, injuring seven. Another F4 tornado hit Downtown Lubbock, injuring six. Both of these tornadoes moved in an odd northwest direction. A large outbreak of 26 tornadoes struck the Great Plains on April 22, although the only tornado to cause casualties was an F3 tornado that injured one in Carnegie, Oklahoma. After two weak tornadoes touched down on April 23, an outbreak of 11 tornadoes hit Indiana and Texas on April 24 with 10 of them in the later state. Again, only the strongest tornado caused casualties: a half-mile wide F3 tornado passed southeast of Elgin, Texas, injuring one.