Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota

1977 tornadoes in North Dakota

30 tornadoes touched down in North Dakota in 1977, 31 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1976 1978 The whole country in 1977

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.
F3158 to 206 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
F5261 to 318 mph
Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.
Unrated
The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in North Dakota in 1977

May 13 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
May 13	4:40 PM MDT	F0	Mercer	0.1	10
May 13	5:50 PM CDT	F0	Williams	0.1	10
May 13	7:50 PM CDT	F0	Williams	0.1	10

May 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 15	8:10 PM CDT	F1	McHenry	1.3	10			$5,000 to $50,000

May 17 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 17	6:55 PM CDT	F0	McKenzie	0.1	10
May 17	8:30 PM CDT	F1	Mountrail	8.5	10			$50,000 to $500,000

May 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 18	2:40 PM CDT	F1	McLean	5.4	10	$50,000 to $500,000
May 18	3:21 PM CDT	F0	Ward	0.1	10
May 18	9:10 PM CDT	F0	Cavalier	0.1	10

May 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 19	6:47 PM CDT	F0	Cavalier	2.7	10

June 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 14	3:15 PM MDT	F2	Bowman	8.2	10		1	$50,000 to $500,000

June 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 15	11:10 PM CDT	F1	Barnes	8.3	10			$50,000 to $500,000

June 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	8:45 PM CDT	F0	McLean	0.1	10

June 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 25	8:00 AM CDT	F0	Pierce	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

June 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 26	7:45 PM CDT	F1	Foster	0.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000
June 26	9:10 PM CDT	F0	LaMoure	0.1	10
June 26	11:30 PM CDT	F0	Richland	0.1	10

June 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 27	6:12 PM CDT	F0	Barnes	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000
June 27	6:30 PM CDT	F1	Nelson	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

June 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 29	3:35 PM CDT	F0	Renville	0.1	10

July 4 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 4	7:55 AM CDT	F1	Cass	20.7	10
July 4	10:58 PM CDT	F0	Sioux	0.1	10

July 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 6	2:53 PM CDT	F3	Renville	17.2	10			$50,000 to $500,000

July 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 10	8:45 PM CDT	F0	Burke	0.1	10

July 13 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 13	2:35 AM CDT	F0	Burke	0.1	10
July 13	7:35 PM CDT	F0	Cass	0.1	10

July 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 23	7:10 PM CDT	F0	Foster	0.1	10

July 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 28	3:35 PM CDT	F0	LaMoure	0.1	10

July 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 29	6:35 PM MDT	F0	Morton	0.1	10

August 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 26	5:30 PM CDT	F1	Richland	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in North Dakota since 1950 Warnings in force in North Dakota The live radar over North Dakota

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.