1920 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak
|name=. Remove this parameter; the article title is used as the name by default.|duration= parameter from the infobox header or from another 'History' box instead.Paths of tornadoes over Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Duration | March 28, 1920 |
| Tornado outbreak | |
| Tornadoes | ≥ 37 |
| Maximum rating | F4 tornado |
| Overall effects | |
| Casualties | ≥ 153 fatalities, ≥ 1,215 injuries |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Areas affected | Midwestern and Southern United States |
On March 28, 1920, a large outbreak of at least 37 tornadoes, 31 of which were significant, took place across the Midwestern and Southern United States. The tornadoes left at least 153 dead and at least 1,215 injured. Many communities and farmers alike were caught off-guard as the storms moved to the northeast at speeds that reached over 60 mph (97 km/h). Most of the fatalities occurred in Georgia (37), Ohio (28), and Indiana (21), while the other states had lesser totals. Little is known about many of the specific tornadoes that occurred, and the list below is only partial.
Severe thunderstorms began developing in Missouri during the early morning hours. The storms moved quickly to the northeast towards Chicago, Illinois. The first tornado injured five people 35 mi (56 km) southeast of Springfield, Missouri, in Douglas County. This first tornado was a harbinger of things to come as the morning went on and the atmosphere began to destabilize, due to the abundance of sunshine that preceded the cold front in the warm sector, which covered the lower Great Lakes region extending southward well past the Ohio River Valley.