You’ve seen the footage. Grainy cell phone videos of grey cones dropping from green-black clouds over Kansas. Or maybe you've watched the high-definition, terrifyingly beautiful 4K clips from modern storm chasers. It feels like a modern phenomenon, something tied to the way we track the weather today with Doppler radar and high-resolution satellites. But the wind has been spinning since the atmosphere first formed. Determining exactly when was the first tornado isn't just a matter of looking at a calendar; it’s a detective job that stretches back through dusty medieval scrolls and ancient oral traditions.
The short answer? We don't know the "first" one. That's impossible. But we do know the first one humans bothered to write down.
If you’re looking for the earliest officially recorded event, you have to look at Europe. Specifically, Ireland. On April 30, 1054, a "steeple of air" was recorded in Rosdalla. It’s a bizarre entry in the Annals of the Four Masters. Most people assume tornadoes are a uniquely American problem. They aren't. They happen everywhere, but the early records are spotty because, honestly, if a giant wind monster leveled your hut in the year 1000, you probably thought it was the end of the world, not a meteorological event.
The Rosdalla Event of 1054
History is messy. The record from Rosdalla describes a "tower of air" that reached the sky and knocked down trees and houses. It sounds like a classic tornado. But back then, there wasn't a word for it. They used metaphors. They talked about dragons or divine wrath.
Scientific historians like Dr. George Ludlum have spent decades sifting through these ancient texts. The Rosdalla event is widely cited by the European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL) as the earliest credible report. It’s wild to think about. Long before the "Tornado Alley" of the United States was even a concept to the Western world, Ireland was dealing with tornadic activity.
It wasn't a massive EF5. Or at least, we don't think it was. The damage descriptions suggest something smaller, maybe a high-end EF1 or an EF2. But for the people living there, it was unprecedented.
Why the "First" Is Hard to Pin Down
Language is a barrier. The word "tornado" didn't even enter the English language until the 16th century. It likely came from the Spanish word tronada (thunderstorm) or tornar (to turn). Before that, people called them "whirlwinds" or "tempests."
If we go back further, there are hints in the Bible and ancient Greek texts. The Book of Job mentions a whirlwind coming out of the north. Is that a tornado? Maybe. Or maybe it was just a really bad dust devil. We can't verify it. We need physical evidence or detailed eyewitness accounts that match the physics of a vortex.
That’s why the 1054 date is the one most experts settle on. It’s the point where the description becomes specific enough to rule out a basic straight-line wind.
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The First American Tornadoes
When people ask when was the first tornado, they’re usually thinking about the U.S.
The first recorded one in the American colonies happened on July 8, 1643. It hit Lynn, Massachusetts. John Winthrop, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, wrote about it in his journal. He described a "sudden gust" that lifted up the water and blew down trees. It even killed a person—an Indigenous man who was caught in its path.
Think about that for a second. 1643. The colonies were barely established, and the weather was already throwing curveballs.
Then you have the infamous "Rehoboth Tornado" of 1671. It was documented in much greater detail. Cotton Mather, a guy usually famous for the Salem Witch Trials, actually wrote about weather events. He described the "dreadful tunnel" and the way it sucked things into the sky. It’s one of the first times we see a witness describe the actual shape of the funnel.
The Great Brandon Tornado of 1840
As the U.S. expanded West, the reports got scarier.
The Natchez Tornado of 1840 is a major milestone. It happened on May 7. It killed 317 people. This was before we had a rating scale, but modern estimates suggest it was a monster. Most of the deaths were on the Mississippi River, where the wind flipped flatboats like they were toys.
This event changed how Americans viewed the interior of the country. It wasn't just fertile land; it was dangerous. This was the birth of the American fascination with "The Great Whirlwind."
The Shift to Scientific Recording
For a long time, tornado reports were just stories.
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That changed in the late 1800s. John Park Finley, a sergeant in the U.S. Army Signal Service, became the first true tornado researcher. In the 1880s, he started mapping where they happened. He was the one who realized they weren't just random acts of God. They followed patterns.
Finley even tried to issue the first tornado "forecasts." The Army actually banned him from using the word "tornado" in his public reports because they were afraid it would cause a mass panic. Seriously. They thought the word itself was too scary for the public to handle. Imagine that today—a weather alert that isn't allowed to tell you what's actually coming.
Modern Record Keeping and the Fujita Scale
If you're looking for the "first" tornado with a modern rating, you have to fast-forward to the 1970s.
Before 1971, we didn't have the F-Scale. Dr. Ted Fujita, a researcher at the University of Chicago, realized we needed a way to categorize these things. He went back through historical archives and "retrospectively" rated old tornadoes based on damage photos and accounts.
So, while the "first" F5 tornado technically happened in 1971 (the Towner, North Dakota storm), Fujita assigned F5 ratings to earlier storms like the Tri-State Tornado of 1925.
The Tri-State Tornado: The All-Time Record Holder
March 18, 1925.
This is the one that still haunts meteorologists. It holds the record for the longest track—219 miles. It stayed on the ground for three and a half hours. It ripped through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
- 695 people died.
- 15,000 homes were destroyed.
- It traveled at speeds over 70 mph.
When we talk about the history of tornadoes, the Tri-State storm is the "First Modern Catastrophe." It was the event that proved we needed a better warning system. People didn't even know it was a tornado until it was on top of them because it was so large and wrapped in rain that it just looked like a wall of black clouds moving across the ground.
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Is Climate Change Making Them Worse?
It's the question everyone asks. Honestly, the data is complicated.
We are seeing more "recorded" tornadoes today than we did in 1950. But is that because there are more storms, or because every single person has a smartphone and we have a massive network of NEXRAD radar? Probably the latter.
However, what is changing is "Tornado Alley." It seems to be shifting east. We’re seeing more activity in the "Dixie Alley" regions like Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. These areas are more dangerous because they have higher population densities and more trees, which makes it harder to see the storm coming.
Myths People Still Believe
One big misconception is that the "first" tornadoes were only in America. As we saw with the Rosdalla event, that's just wrong. Bangladesh actually has some of the deadliest tornadoes in history because of the high population density and poor construction.
Another myth? That mountains or rivers protect you. They don't. The 1987 Teton-Yellowstone tornado crossed the Continental Divide at an elevation of 10,000 feet. The wind doesn't care about your geography.
Tracking the History Yourself
If you’re a history nerd or a weather geek, you don't have to take my word for it. There are incredible archives you can dig through.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) keeps a "Storm Events Database" that goes back to 1950. It’s a rabbit hole. You can look up your specific county and see the first recorded tornado in your backyard.
For the older stuff, the Grazulis Tornado Archive is the gold standard. Thomas Grazulis spent years compiling every significant tornado since 1680. His book, Significant Tornadoes, is basically the Bible of storm history.
What You Should Do Now
Knowing the history is great, but surviving the future is better. Here is how you should handle the "now":
- Check your home's "first" defense: Do you have a NOAA Weather Radio? It’s the only thing that works when the power and cell towers go out.
- Identify your safe spot: Not all basements are equal. If you don't have one, find an interior room on the lowest floor, away from windows.
- Digitize your history: If you have old family photos of storm damage from decades ago, share them with your local National Weather Service office. They use old photos to re-evaluate historical records and improve modern modeling.
- Understand the "PDS": If you see a "Particularly Dangerous Situation" watch issued, take it seriously. That’s the modern equivalent of the "Great Whirlwinds" of the 1800s.
The history of when the first tornado occurred is a story of human observation. The storms have always been there. We just finally got smart enough to start writing down the patterns. From the monks in 1054 Ireland to the storm chasers of 2026, our fascination—and fear—remains exactly the same.