Tornadoes · United States · North Dakota

2021 tornadoes in North Dakota

15 tornadoes touched down in North Dakota in 2021, 34 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2020 2022 The whole country in 2021

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 2021

May 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 19	4:32 PM CDT	Unrated	Kidder	0.3	50

June 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	8:57 PM CDT	Unrated	Stutsman	1.1	40
June 7	9:20 PM CDT	EF0	Cass	0.3	20

June 10 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 10	6:12 PM CDT	Unrated	McKenzie	0.6	50
June 10	6:32 PM CDT	Unrated	McKenzie	1.0	100
June 10	7:55 PM CDT	Unrated	McKenzie	2.1	100
June 10	9:57 PM CDT	Unrated	Williams	0.9	40

August 9 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 9	7:16 PM CDT	EF1	Towner	5.0	200	$2,000
August 9	8:34 PM CDT	EF0	Griggs	0.3	50
August 9	9:20 PM CDT	EF2	Steele	2.9	300	$150,000
August 9	9:42 PM CDT	EF1	Grand Forks	1.1	150	$1,000

August 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 20	4:18 PM CDT	EF0	Cass	0.4	40

August 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 22	6:02 PM CDT	EF0	Ramsey	0.3	25

October 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 9	6:40 PM CDT	EF0	Richland	0.1	10

October 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 13	4:04 PM CDT	EF0	Sargent	5.4	25

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.