Tornadoes and Hail in South Dakota, May 21, 1995

Name: Tornadoes and Hail in South Dakota, May 21, 1995
Start: 1995-05-21T19:55
End: 1995-05-21T20:45
Location: South Dakota

May 21, 1995 · 5 events in 4 counties and zones

3 hail, 2 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 5

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 hail, 2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Potter

When: May 21, 7:55 PM CST
Where: Potter County, Gettysburg
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.1 mi
Path width: 10 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 45.230, -99.950

Grain bin and a livestock trailer were destroyed by a narrow path tornado.

Hail, Walworth

When: May 21, 7:58 PM CST
Where: Walworth County, Lowry
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Coordinates: 45.430, -100.032 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Hail, Edmunds

When: May 21, 8:00 PM CST
Where: Edmunds County, Eureka
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Coordinates: 45.419, -99.215 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A brief touchdown of a narrow path tornado sighted 4 S of Mina Lake.

Tornado, Edmunds

When: May 21, 8:30 PM CST
Where: Edmunds County
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.1 mi
Path width: 10 yd
Coordinates: 45.380, -98.730

A brief touchdown of a narrow path tornado sighted 4 S of Mina Lake.

Hail, McPherson

When: May 21, 8:45 PM CST
Where: McPherson County, Leola
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Coordinates: 45.766, -99.221 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in South Dakota in 1995 Every state in 1995 This day in weather history The tornado archive for South Dakota, 1995 Warnings in South Dakota, May 1995

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10346069, 10349133, 10346431, 10346432, 10346377.