America’s Most Expensive Tornadoes

With tornado season (hopefully) winding down across Oklahoma and the rest of Tornado Alley, we start to look back on what has been.

The Sooner State has had 65 confirmed tornadoes so far in 2025, which is slightly above average. Every year produces different severe weather patterns, and the average is 58 tornadoes each year.

That doesn't tell the entire story, but that's the law of averages. For all of the years we've had over 150 twisters, like in 2024 thanks to that wild November, there are some years on record with only 16 total tornadoes - 2014.

Having a lot or the most tornadoes doesn't always equal having the worst storms. Florida and Colorado have more twisters than any other states, but they're generally small EF0-EF1 storms, which is a stiff breeze by the Oklahoma standard.

Instead, it's the few and rare super-powerful storms that do the most damage by far. The costliest tornado in human history is also one of the shortest-lived.

Every Oklahoman dreads a forecast that includes key phrases like "May 3rd, 1999," "Moore 2013," or "long-track violent tornadoes are possible." It's as if the entire state stands still for an afternoon waiting for the worst to happen, and luckily, the meteorologists have been wrong on those days far more often than they've been right.

Here are the most expensive tornadoes in history.