TORNADOES MAP · HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
Longest U.S. Tornado Tracks Since 1970
The 25 longest recorded tornado paths in the 1970–2025 U.S. NOAA SPC archive, ranked by path length in miles, with ratings, states, and map links.
These records have the longest recorded path lengths in this site’s U.S. archive from 1970 through 2025. Open a record to view its endpoints, rating, and reported impacts on the map.
The ranking uses each record’s path length as published by the NOAA Storm Prediction Center. It begins in 1970, not at the start of the archive. Read the ranking method.
| Rank | Date and states | Rating | Recorded length (mi) | Recorded width (yd) | Reported fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 21, 1971Mississippi, also Tennessee · 1971-66 | F4 | 202.1 | 100 | 58 |
| 2 | Apr 29, 1970Oklahoma · 1970-155 | F2 | 170.5 | 250 | 0 |
| 3 | Sep 25, 1973Kansas, also Nebraska · 1973-924 | F3 | 169.7 | 100 | 3 |
| 4 | Dec 10, 2021Tennessee, also Kentucky · 2021-2112102054-01 | EF4 | 168.53 | 2,600 | 57 |
| 5 | Jan 12, 1975Florida, also Georgia · 1975-46 | F2 | 168.5 | 100 | 1 |
| 6 | Nov 23, 1992North Carolina · 1992-1272 | F3 | 160 | 100 | 0 |
| 7 | Apr 24, 2010Louisiana, also Mississippi · 2010-1004241009-01 | EF4 | 148.97 | 3,080 | 10 |
| 8 | May 27, 1973Alabama · 1973-469 | F4 | 139.1 | 800 | 7 |
| 9 | Jun 7, 1984Missouri, also Iowa · 1984-495 | F4 | 134 | 250 | 3 |
| 10 | Apr 27, 2011Alabama, also Tennessee · 2011-1104271405-01 | EF5 | 132 | 2,200 | 72 |
| 11 | Mar 13, 1990Nebraska · 1990-90 | F4 | 131 | 440 | 0 |
| 12 | Apr 17, 1970Texas · 1970-80 | F4 | 130 | 880 | 1 |
| 13 | Nov 21, 1992Mississippi · 1992-1206 | F4 | 128 | 880 | 12 |
| 14 | Apr 27, 2011Alabama · 2011-1104271440-01 | EF4 | 127.8 | 1,408 | 13 |
| 15 | Mar 29, 1976Mississippi · 1976-199 | F4 | 126.5 | 880 | 0 |
| 16 | Jan 12, 2023Georgia · 2023-2301121527-01 | EF2 | 125.76 | 1,400 | 4 |
| 17 | Dec 10, 2021Tennessee, also Kentucky · 2021-2112102232-01 | EF3 | 122.62 | 2,000 | 0 |
| 18 | Apr 27, 2011Mississippi, also Alabama · 2011-1104271642-03 | EF4 | 122.04 | 1,050 | 7 |
| 19 | Feb 5, 2008Arkansas · 2008-0802051649-03 | EF4 | 121.84 | 1,320 | 13 |
| 20 | May 18, 1977Kansas · 1977-292 | F2 | 117.2 | 50 | 0 |
| 21 | Mar 14, 2025Arkansas, also Missouri · 2025-2503142011-01 | EF4 | 115.95 | 1,400 | 0 |
| 22 | Sep 20, 2002Indiana · 2002-850 | F3 | 112 | 150 | 0 |
| 23 | Apr 3, 1974Alabama · 1974-174 | F4 | 110.6 | 500 | 3 |
| 24 | Aug 26, 1977Minnesota · 1977-710 | F2 | 110.4 | 880 | 0 |
| 25 | Feb 21, 1971Louisiana, also Mississippi · 1971-64 | F5 | 109.2 | 500 | 47 |
What about the 1925 Tri-State tornado?
The March 18, 1925 Tri-State tornado, often cited as the longest tornado path in U.S. history, struck Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana before this dataset begins. Its absence is a coverage limit, not a ranking decision. Read the NWS Tri-State tornado history.
How these tracks are ranked
“Longest” means the largest recorded path length, in miles, for a single-track record in the U.S. archive from 1970 through 2025. It does not rank damage ratings, path width, casualties, or the distance between endpoints. Equal lengths share a rank; tied records appear chronologically, including any tie at 25th place.
The ranking begins in 1970 as an editorial cutoff. Several earlier archive entries record very long paths from a period when a sequence of tornadoes produced by one storm was more often logged as a single track. Omitting those years avoids comparing lengths built on different survey practices; it is not a correction of the source. Even after 1970, a long recorded path may later have been reinterpreted as more than one tornado. This site presents each record as published.
Each whole track counts once, including interstate tornadoes, and the recorded length covers the full path rather than one state’s segment. The states shown are the touchdown state followed by other states named in the source’s state segments; they are a set, not a route. Records with no recorded length, or a length of zero, are excluded. Map lines join recorded endpoints, so a line on the map can be shorter than the surveyed path it represents.
Source: NOAA SPC 1950–2025 single-track CSV. Latest event date: 2025-12-28. Full data methodology.
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