Joplin High School
On May 22, 2011, a tornado that killed 161 people in Joplin extensively damaged the high school and Franklin Tech. The high school's graduation ceremonies had just taken place about three miles away on the Missouri Southern State University campus shortly before the tornado struck.
According to principal Kerry Sachetta, "You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing. That's really what it looked like. I couldn't even make out the side of the building. It was total devastation in my view. I just couldn't believe what I saw." In the weeks after the tornado, it was determined that the campus was irreparable and would need to be completely rebuilt. 
Planning for a temporary school began four days after the May 22 tornado. School officials announced in June 2011 that juniors and seniors in the 2011-12 class (and possibly later) would attend classes in a section of Northpark Mall. Classes began in the renovated former Shopko location as scheduled on August 17, 2011.
Teton–Yellowstone tornado
The Teton–Yellowstone tornado was a rare high-altitude tornado which occurred on July 21, 1987 in the U.S. State of Wyoming. Rated at F4 on the Fujita scale, it was the strongest tornado ever recorded in the state. It was also the only recorded F4 tornado in Wyoming history. The tornado cut through a long, wide swath of the Teton Wilderness and Yellowstone National Park, and even crossed the Continental Divide. The damage occurred at elevations ranging from , making it the highest altitude violent tornado recorded in the United States. No human fatalities or injuries were recorded, but up to 1,000,000 trees were uprooted by the storm. The F4 rating was based on the severity of the tree damage in the worst affected areas. Huge swaths of trees were flattened, and many were stripped of leaves and limbs, with the trunks debarked. Topsoil was picked up and spattered against the bare trunks. Fujita noted that the tree damage was only comparable to that he had seen associated with some of the tornadoes from the 1974 Super Outbreak, as well as the April 1977 Birmingham tornado. Most of the damaged forest later burned in the Yellowstone fires of 1988.