South Dakota, 1996

Tornado in South Dakota, May 31, 1996

May 31, 1996 · NWS ABR · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A tornado touched down 3 miles southwest of Aberdeen and collapsed the west side of a Quonset hut by bending the steel frame beams, destroyed and tossed a 2 ton grain bin, with reinforced steel beams, 100 feet. The tornado also tossed a light-weight grain bin 100 feet into a row of trees, destroyed the grain bin.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS ABR wrote it up.

A tornado touched down 3 miles southwest of Aberdeen and collapsed the west side of a Quonset hut by bending the steel frame beams, destroyed and tossed a 2 ton grain bin, with reinforced steel beams, 100 feet. The tornado also tossed a light-weight grain bin 100 feet into a row of trees, destroyed the grain bin. Also, several trees in the shelter belt were destroyed.

The radar

The Aberdeen radar (KABR), 10 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:28 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Brown

When
May 31, 4:30 PM CST to 4:34 PM CST
Where
Brown County, Aberdeen to 3 mi SW of Aberdeen
Rating
F1
Path length
1 mi
Path width
50 yd
Coordinates
45.430, -98.530

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in South Dakota in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Dakota, 1996Warnings in South Dakota, May 1996

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: 5566910.