Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota

1971 tornadoes in South Dakota

47 tornadoes touched down in South Dakota in 1971, 84 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1970 1972 The whole country in 1971

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 South Dakota in 1971

June 3 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 3	8:05 PM CDT	F0	Turner	0.1	10
June 3	8:11 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	10

June 4 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 4	4:30 PM CDT	F2	Lyman	0.1	10
June 4	4:45 PM CDT	F2	Jones	0.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000
June 4	5:00 PM CDT	F2	Mellette	0.3	50
June 4	7:00 PM CDT	F2	Charles Mix	4.3	137	$5,000 to $50,000
June 4	8:00 PM CDT	F1	Charles Mix	0.1	10	$500 to $5,000
June 4	8:27 PM CDT	F0	Day	0.1	10
June 4	9:05 PM CDT	F0	Kingsbury	0.1	10

June 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	4:00 PM CDT	F0	Charles Mix	0.1	10

June 6 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 6	3:25 PM CDT	F0	Potter	0.1	10
June 6	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Hyde	0.1	10
June 6	5:00 PM CDT	F0	Lyman	0.1	10
June 6	5:10 PM CDT	F0	Faulk	0.1	10

June 7 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 7	2:30 PM MDT	F0	Corson	0.1	10
June 7	2:45 PM MDT	F0	Corson	0.1	10
June 7	4:25 PM CDT	F0	Lake	0.1	10

June 8 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 8	12:30 PM CDT	F0	Douglas	0.1	10
June 8	12:30 PM CDT	F0	Hutchinson	0.1	10
June 8	3:59 PM CDT	F0	McCook	0.1	10
June 8	6:55 PM CDT	F0	Spink	0.1	10

June 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 9	8:45 PM CDT	F0	Aurora	0.1	10
June 9	10:05 PM CDT	F1	Walworth	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

June 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	9:35 PM CDT	F1	Todd	0.1	10			$500 to $5,000

June 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	4:00 PM CDT	F0	Hutchinson	0.1	10

June 15 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 15	7:30 PM CDT	F1	Campbell	0.1	10		$5,000 to $50,000
June 15	10:30 PM CDT	F2	Todd	0.1	10	1
June 15	12:44 AM CDT	F0	Beadle	0.1	10

June 19 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 19	7:00 PM CDT	F2	Deuel	0.1	200	$500 to $5,000
June 19	7:00 PM CDT	F1	Brookings	0.1	10
June 19	7:40 PM CDT	F2	Hamlin	36.8	10
June 19	8:00 PM CDT	F1	Brookings	1.3	290	$5,000 to $50,000
June 19	8:20 PM CDT	F2	Brookings	0.1	10
June 19	8:30 PM CDT	F1	Brookings	2.0	17	$500 to $5,000

June 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	10:59 AM CDT	F0	Spink	0.1	10

July 3 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 3	7:00 PM CDT	F2	Hand	20.1	30
July 3	7:10 PM CDT	F2	Hand	2.3	100	$5,000 to $50,000
July 3	7:15 PM CDT	F3	Hand	0.1	87	$5,000 to $50,000
July 3	7:22 PM CDT	F1	Beadle	0.1	10
July 3	7:50 PM CDT	F0	Buffalo	0.1	10	$5,000 to $50,000

July 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 5	8:05 PM CDT	F0	Brown	0.1	10

July 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	7:30 PM CDT	F3	Lyman	0.1	10
July 9	9:00 PM CDT	F3	Lyman	0.1	10		2

July 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 24	6:30 PM CDT	F3	Brule	2.5	300

October 1 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 1	8:30 PM CDT	F2	Sully	0.5	300			$5,000 to $50,000
October 1	10:15 PM CDT	F2	McCook	0.1	10			$5,000 to $50,000

October 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 18	3:30 AM CDT	F2	Turner	2.3	367			$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

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