The 2011 Joplin tornado was a devastating EF5-rated multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, United States, on the evening of Sunday, May 22, 2011. It was part of a larger late-May tornado outbreak and reached a maximum width of nearly one mile (1.6 km) during its path through the southern part of the city. This particular tornado was unusual in that it intensified in strength and grew larger in size at a very fast rate. The tornado tracked eastward across the city, and then continued eastward across Interstate 44 into rural portions of Jasper and Newton counties. It was the third tornado to strike Joplin since May 1971.

Overall, the tornado killed 158 people (with an additional eight indirect deaths), injured some 1,150 others, and caused damages amounting to a total of $2.8 billion. It was the deadliest tornado to strike the U.S. since the 1947 Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes, and the seventh-deadliest overall. It also ranks as the costliest single tornado in U.S. history; the insurance payout was $2.8 billion, the highest in Missouri history, with the previous record of $2 billion being the April 10, 2001 hail storm.