The Strongest & Largest Tornadoes Ever Recorded, Ranked
The strongest tornado ever recorded wasn’t the widest, and neither was the deadliest. “Biggest tornado” is four different records with four different holders — here is each one, ranked and sourced.
Search “largest tornado ever” and you’ll get four different answers, because there are four different records. The fastest winds ever measured belong to the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore, Oklahoma tornado — a Doppler on Wheels radar clocked roughly 301 mph just above the ground, the highest wind speed ever recorded near Earth’s surface. The widest was the 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado at 2.6 miles across. The longest track and the deadliest are the same storm: the 1925 Tri-State Tornado, 219 miles and 695 lives.
Almost every article online conflates these. This one keeps them apart. The wind speeds and the longest-track record come from NWS and mobile-radar research; the path widths, the EF5 roster and the death tolls come straight from our copy of the NOAA Storm Prediction Center database. And the rarest record of all is a number: in 72 years, only 60 tornadoes have ever reached the top of the scale.
Strongest by measured wind speed
Wind speed is the hardest record to pin down, because the EF rating is assigned from damage, not measured wind. Only a handful of tornadoes have ever had their winds sampled directly by mobile radar, and two of them define the ceiling. These figures are radar measurements from NWS and university researchers, not our database.
| # | Tornado | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore, OK (F5) A Doppler on Wheels radar clocked winds near 300 mph about 100 ft above ground — the fastest wind ever measured near Earth’s surface (OU/DOW; some reanalyses put it higher). | ~301 mph |
| 2 | 2013 El Reno, OK (EF3) Mobile radar (RaxPol) measured near-surface winds close to 295 mph — yet it was rated EF3 because it stayed over open country and damage, not wind, sets the rating. | ~295 mph |
| 3 | 1991 Red Rock, OK (F4) An early portable-Doppler measurement during the Andover outbreak, among the highest recorded before the DOW era. | ~268 mph |
The Moore 1999 measurement remains the benchmark for the fastest wind ever observed on the planet’s surface. El Reno 2013 is the cautionary tale of the pair: EF5-level winds, but an EF3 rating, because it did most of its damage over open Oklahoma grassland. Read its full story on our 2013 El Reno tornado page.
Widest by path width
This is the one record we can rank straight from the data. Path width is logged for every tornado in the SPC database; here are the five widest on record, in miles.
| # | Tornado | Width |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2013 El Reno, OK The widest tornado ever recorded — 4,576 yards in our SPC data. | 2.6 mi |
| 2 | 2004 Hallam, NE (F4) Nearly leveled the village of Hallam; 4,400 yards wide. | 2.5 mi |
| 3 | 2020 Bassfield–Soso, MS (EF4) The Easter Sunday 2020 long-track EF4; 3,960 yards. | 2.25 mi |
| 4 | 2007 Kansas (Greensburg outbreak day) One of several violent tornadoes on May 4, 2007; 3,872 yards. | 2.2 mi |
| 5 | 2008 Wisconsin June 7, 2008; 3,520 yards. | 2.0 mi |
El Reno’s 2.6 miles is genuinely off the charts — more than a mile wider than a typical strong tornado, wide enough to swallow entire neighborhoods at once. It is the widest tornado ever documented anywhere.
Longest by path length
Track length is where the historic events dominate. Modern tornadoes rarely stay on the ground more than a few dozen miles; the Tri-State record has stood for a century.
| # | Tornado | Track |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1925 Tri-State (MO–IL–IN) The undisputed all-time record for continuous path length, and about 3½ hours on the ground (NWS). | 219 mi |
| 2 | 2011 Hackleburg–Phil Campbell, AL (EF5) One of the longest tracks of the modern radar era, per our SPC data — an EF5 in the 2011 Super Outbreak. | 132 mi |
| 3 | 1917 Mattoon–Charleston, IL Often cited as second-longest, though early records make the exact continuous length uncertain. | ~155 mi (disputed) |
A note on the data: raw SPC path-length figures for a few very old events are aggregated or uncertain, so the accepted 219-mile Tri-State record (NWS) is the right benchmark rather than any single unverified database row. For the full ranking by lives lost — a different list — see the deadliest tornadoes in US history.
The rarest record: only 60 EF5s, ever
The single most striking number in the whole tornado database isn’t a wind speed — it’s a count. Since the F-scale began in 1953, exactly 60 tornadoes have ever been rated F5 or EF5, the top of the scale. That is roughly 0.08% of the 71,809 rated tornadoes in our SPC data. Add the 590 F4/EF4 tornadoes and the entire “violent” category — the storms capable of wiping a well-built house off its foundation — still makes up barely 1% of all US tornadoes.
EF5s are also getting rarer, or at least more clustered. After the April 2011 Super Outbreak produced four in a single day, the US went 12 years without a single EF5 — the longest drought on record — until the June 20, 2025 Enderlin, North Dakota tornado finally ended it. You can browse the complete roster, all 60, on our every-EF5 record page.
So what’s the biggest tornado ever?
It depends entirely on how you measure. Four axes, four different record-holders — here they are side by side.
| Record | Holder | Figure |
|---|---|---|
| Fastest winds | 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore, OK | ~301 mph |
| Widest | 2013 El Reno, OK | 2.6 mi |
| Longest track | 1925 Tri-State (MO–IL–IN) | 219 mi |
| Deadliest | 1925 Tri-State (MO–IL–IN) | 695 killed |
| Rarest rating | All F5/EF5 tornadoes | 60 ever |
Frequently asked questions
What is the strongest tornado ever recorded?
By measured wind speed, the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore, Oklahoma F5. A Doppler on Wheels radar clocked winds near 301 mph about 100 feet above the ground — the fastest wind ever measured near Earth’s surface. Because damage sets the official rating, it was rated F5, the top of the scale.
What is the widest tornado ever recorded?
The 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado, at 2.6 miles wide — 4,576 yards in the NOAA SPC data. It killed eight people, including three storm chasers. Despite near-surface winds around 295 mph, it was rated only EF3 because it caused most of its damage over open country.
What is the longest tornado track in history?
The 1925 Tri-State Tornado, which stayed on the ground for 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois and Indiana over about 3½ hours (NWS). It is the undisputed all-time record for continuous path length and also the deadliest US tornado, killing 695 people.
How many EF5 tornadoes have there been?
Exactly 60 F5/EF5 tornadoes have been recorded in the United States since 1953, according to the NOAA SPC database — the most recent the June 20, 2025 Enderlin, North Dakota EF5. That is about 0.08% of all rated US tornadoes. Together with the 590 F4/EF4s, "violent" tornadoes make up barely 1% of the total.
What’s the difference between the strongest and the biggest tornado?
They’re different records with different holders. Strongest by wind is Moore 1999 (~301 mph); widest is El Reno 2013 (2.6 mi); longest track and deadliest is the 1925 Tri-State (219 mi, 695 killed). No single tornado holds all four, which is why "the biggest tornado ever" depends entirely on how you measure it.
Explore the tornado record yourself
Every count here is browsable. Map any state, filter by rating, or read the stories behind the record-holders: