Tornado outbreak of May 19–22, 1957

From May 19–22, 1957, a tornado outbreak took place across the US Central Plains. A total of 59 tornadoes were reported from Colorado to the Mississippi Valley. The most destructive tornado of the severe weather event—likely part of a long-lived family—was rated at F5, the highest level, and is often called the Ruskin Heights tornado, after the site of its worst damage, a suburb and housing development in southern Kansas City, Missouri. Additionally, a powerful F4 tornado virtually destroyed Fremont, Missouri, claiming seven lives, and an F3 tornado killed eight others in and near Belgrade, Missouri. A pair of F4s—one in Minnesota, the other in Kansas—also neared F5 intensity. In all, 59 people were killed during the outbreak, including 44 in the Ruskin Heights tornado.