Tornadoes in South Dakota, May 31, 1996

An F1 tornado organized over the parking lot of the Target Shopping Center in Aberdeen and tracked northeast towards Bath. It destroyed a green house (a large tent) and it's contents in the Target parking lot, uprooted and snapped trees as it crossed U.S. Highway 12. In addition, it took out the south wall, including a large overhead door, of a cinder block warehouse, broke windows in buildings, and lifted a box car off the train tracks. It also tipped over several semi trailers (the tractors were not attached) rolled over and destroyed a motor home, and threw a pickup truck and it's occupant about 70 feet. The occupant was sligtly injured. Between Aberdeen and Bath, the tornado contained multiple vortices as it strengthened to an F3. Most trees in a shelter belt northeast of Aberdeen were snapped or uprooted and a garage was completely destroyed. Several farms were hit 1 to 2 miles north of Bath. Many outbuildings were destroyed. Two layers of shingles were peeled off a garage and several trees were uprooted. Twelve to 15 high tension utility poles were damaged or destroyed and 17 wooden poles were destroyed along the path of the tornado. The outages caused by the tornado affected several hundred customers. The tornado continued to the northeast producing F1 damage between Bath, Putney, and Claremont. It snapped and uprooted many trees. Outbuildings like grain bins and calf barns were destroyed. Debris was deposited 1 mile away in some instances. A John Deere chopper was turned 180 degrees by the twister. The tornado continued on into Marshall County where it weakened and dissipated near Amherst. No damage was reported in Marshall county except for some trees downed.