The tornado outbreak of April 21, 1972
19 tornadoesIllinois, Mississippi, Kentucky and 2 more states
19 tornadoes touched down across 5 states between 3:15 PM and 11:30 PM CST, 6 of them rated F3 or stronger, and 3 people were killed.
Watch the day unfoldTornado outbreak · April 21, 1972
How the day unfolded
Every tornado recorded that day, at its logged touchdown time and along its path, with the counties it crossed.
The day in numbers
- Tornadoes
- 19
- on Friday, April 21, 1972
- F3 or stronger
- 6
- None rated F4 or F5
- Killed
- 3
- Along all the paths
- Injured
- 36
- Along all the paths
- Path miles
- 136
- All the paths end to end
- First and last
- 3:15 PM to 11:30 PM
- Touchdowns, Central Standard Time
Hour by hour
Tornadoes touching down in each hour, Central Standard Time.
Every tornado
In order of touchdown.
| 3:15 PM | F1 | Williamson County TN | 0 |
| 3:15 PM | F2 | Iron County, Madison County MO | 0 |
| 4:30 PM | F1 | Washington County MS | 0 |
| 4:50 PM | F2 | Humphreys County MS | 0 |
| 5:00 PM | F2 | Alexander County, Pulaski County IL | 0 |
| 5:20 PM | F3 | Pope County IL | 3 |
| 5:20 PM | F3 | Leflore County MS | 0 |
| 6:00 PM | F1 | Pope County IL | 0 |
| 6:25 PM | F1 | Shelby County TN | 0 |
| 6:30 PM | F1 | Weakley County, Graves County TN, KY | 0 |
| 6:45 PM | F1 | Gallatin County IL | 0 |
| 7:00 PM | F2 | Livingston County KY | 0 |
| 7:20 PM | F1 | Crawford County IL | 0 |
| 8:00 PM | F3 | Butler County KY | 0 |
| 8:05 PM | F3 | Lawrence County, Giles County TN | 0 |
| 9:00 PM | F3 | Grayson County KY | 0 |
| 10:05 PM | F3 | Lincoln County MS | 0 |
| 10:10 PM | F2 | Mercer County KY | 0 |
| 11:30 PM | F2 | Covington County MS | 0 |
By state
| Illinois | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Mississippi | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Kentucky | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Tennessee | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Missouri | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Tornadoes in 1972 · On this date in other years · The biggest outbreak days
Storm Prediction Center severe weather database, 1950 to 2025. A day is SPC’s calendar date in Central Standard Time; an outbreak day here has 40 or more tornadoes, or 6 or more rated F3/EF3 or stronger.