The St. Louis 1967 twister

The storm that led to the tornado warning system for St. Louis County

Welcome to Unseen St. Louis, where I explore interesting and unusual aspects of St. Louis history and locations.

This week marks the 55th anniversary of the tornado that ravaged north St. Louis County on January 24th, 1967. Because the tornado has a place in my personal history, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at that day.

The tornado

According to the National Weather Service, it was a powerful F4 tornado that started around 6:55pm in Chesterfield, in western St. Louis County, raced across the county just south of Lambert Airport, and eventually weakened just shy of the Missouri-Mississippi River confluence.

Aerial photo of tornado damage. Photo: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 25, 1967

The 35-minute-long tornado ultimately took three lives and injured 216 others. It damaged or destroyed nearly 2000 homes and 600 businesses, causing approximately $15 million in property damage ($125 million in 2022 dollars).

Sister Mary Isidore S. M., administrator for St. John’s Mercy Hospital (now Mercy), explained how patients began streaming in within 30 minutes of the tornado touching ground.

"They arrived in police cars, ambulances, and private automobiles. The poor people were drenched and cold and bloody. Some had their clothing torn off and many were without shoes. Their hair was caked with debris that appeared to be insulation used in construction." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan 25, 1967)

The path of the tornado

The tornado covered significant ground in the northern part of St. Louis County, including clipping the southern edge of the airport.

A contemporary map of the path was published in the Post-Dispatch the day after the tornado struck:

Path of 1967 St. Louis Tornado. Map: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 25, 1967

The NWS posted a map of the track of the tornado with modern roadways:

Track of 1967 St. Louis tornado, via NWS

When the tornado began its devastating 25 mile march across the area, it was already dark. The Weather Bureau (what the NWS was called back then) issued a severe thunderstorm warning but did not issue a tornado warning until after 7pm upon receiving a telephone call about the tornado. As the NWS notes, “it is likely that the proximity of the tornado to the radar, the limitations of radar technology in the 1960s, and a lack of understanding about supercell thunderstorms, prevented the detection of the tornado.”

No warning

In early 1967, the St. Louis area didn’t have a tornado warning system in place.

That meant that most of the people in the area had no idea that a tornado was running rampant in their neighborhoods. As noted, the Weather Bureau didn’t know there was a tornado until it had already caused damage. And even then, there was no effective way to get the word out. Notification systems at the time relied on the Weather Bureau calling radio stations, who then shared the information with listeners. Television stations could do the same. But all of that took time, and with tornadoes, time is often something you don’t have.

A family salvages items from their home on Glenbush Ave in Maryland Heights. Photo: Post-Dispatch, Jan 25, 1967

The 1967 tornado was the fourth serious tornado to hit the region since the city’s founding in 1764, including the tornadoes of 1959, 1927, and 1896. And with the widespread injuries and destruction, politicians decided to do something about it.

Three days after the Jan. 24th tornado, the chief meteorologist at the Weather Bureau called for the existing civil defense air raid sirens to be utilized for tornado warnings. As reported in the Jan. 27, 1967 Post-Dispatch, George N. Brancato pointed out that tornado sirens in Minneapolis and Topeka KS had already proven effective. He noted that efforts had been made to establish a siren warning system in 1959 after the previous tornado, but at the time there hadn’t been the political will to make it happen.

By April, the new tornado siren warning system was ready to go, and was first tested on May 1st. And on May 28th, the system was already pressed into service when a small tornado touched down in Jefferson County, though its newness ended up confusing people as much as warning them.

I was just a baby!

I was three weeks old when the tornado hit, so of course I don’t remember any of it. At the time, my parents were living in a townhouse apartment off of North Hanley Rd. in North County (one they would soon have to vacate as the apartment manager informed them that children weren’t allowed, despite there being nothing along those lines in their lease). That apartment was about a half mile away from the track the tornado took (and the new apartment they would move into was even closer).

At the time, however, they weren’t home—they were at my dad’s parent’s house off New Halls Ferry Rd., which the tornado missed by maybe a mile. My dad recalled that they had no idea there was a tornado at the time, but said that the damage they saw the next day was remarkable.

Oddly, he said they weren’t sure if their apartment had made it through the storm or not, but they weren’t in any rush to race home to find out.

In hindsight, it’s amazing that me and my parents, and my grandparents, made it through the storm without incident. Had the tornado chosen a slightly different path, my life could have changed dramatically.

As it is, I remember my mom telling me about the tornado when I was growing up, and I could tell it had shaken her. And for better or worse, her memories of the tornado influenced me, and to this day I take them seriously.

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I hope you enjoyed this article. Please share it with your friends. If you remember the tornado, I’d love for you to leave a comment. And don’t forget to subscribe for more Unseen St. Louis!