14 States, 42 Deaths, $11 Billion in Damage: Inside the Deadliest March Tornado Outbreak in American History

From March 13 to 16, 2025, a catastrophic tornado outbreak tore across the central and eastern United States over four days, leaving 42 people dead, hundreds injured, and entire communities shattered. The March 2025 outbreak stands as the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded in March, the costliest in American history when unadjusted for inflation, and one of the most violent multi-day severe weather events the country has ever witnessed.

How It Unfolded

Forecasters saw it coming days in advance. As early as March 7, 2025, the Storm Prediction Center began tracking a vigorous upper-level trough ejecting over the High Plains, and by March 13, the SPC had upgraded the threat for March 14 to a moderate risk over the middle Mississippi Valley. What followed over the next four days was something forecasters had only dared to issue twice before in the modern era: a Day 2 high risk for tornadoes, only the third such designation ever issued by the Storm Prediction Center, covering portions of Mississippi and Alabama.

The storm system was driven by a powerful surface cyclone, deep atmospheric instability, and wind shear, producing conditions ripe for "significant tornadoes, some of which should be long-track and potentially violent," as the NWS described in real time.