Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota

2016 tornadoes in North Dakota

22 tornadoes touched down in North Dakota in 2016, about the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2015 2017 The whole country in 2016

The rating scale

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

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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 2016

May 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 22	9:10 PM CDT	EF0	Stutsman	1.1	20

June 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 21	8:10 PM MDT	EF1	Hettinger	3.2	35			$200,000
June 21	9:46 PM CDT	EF0	McKenzie	0.4	20

July 7 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 7	2:05 PM CDT	EF0	Nelson	9.0	100
July 7	2:30 PM CDT	EF0	Renville	0.3	20
July 7	3:38 PM CDT	EF0	Bottineau	0.3	20
July 7	5:06 PM CDT	EF0	Grand Forks	0.3	20
July 7	5:15 PM CDT	EF0	Grand Forks	0.5	40

July 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	7:35 AM CDT	EF0	Morton	0.1	20

July 19 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 19	5:30 PM CDT	EF1	Pembina	5.3	880
July 19	6:17 PM CDT	EF1	Walsh	1.5	440
July 19	6:36 PM CDT	EF1	Walsh	1.0	200

July 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 20	4:42 PM CDT	EF0	Mountrail	0.9	30

July 26 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 26	2:40 PM CDT	EF0	Barnes	0.3	20
July 26	6:50 PM MDT	EF0	Grant	0.1	20

August 3 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 3	5:28 PM CDT	EF2	Rolette	20.0	1,200	$600,000
August 3	8:40 PM CDT	EF0	Ramsey	1.4	40
August 3	8:41 PM CDT	EF0	Ramsey	0.8	40
August 3	9:10 PM CDT	EF2	Eddy	3.3	300

August 27 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
August 27	4:12 PM CDT	EF0	Grand Forks	0.5	100
August 27	4:18 PM CDT	EF1	Grand Forks	4.0	600
August 27	6:02 PM CDT	EF3	Traill	3.0	300

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.