Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota · 1990

F0 tornado, Todd County, South Dakota, June 7, 1990

This F0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Todd County on June 7, 1990, touching down at 4:33 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
June 7, 1990
Touchdown
4:33 PM CDT (21:33 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Todd County
Touchdown point
43.120, -100.670
Record number
619

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS FSD issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:32 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:32 UTC22:00 UTCTornado WarningFSD
22:24 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningFSD

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 07:16 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Rapid City, SD (KRAP), 12:00Z

9.6 hours before the tornado, 207 km from the path. June 7, 1990.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 1990-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -7454, lifted condensation level 1012 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Rapid City, SD at 12:00Z on 1990-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 0 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 0 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7454 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1012 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
0 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
0 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Rapid City, SD (KRAP), 00:00Z

2.4 hours after it, 207 km from the path. June 8, 1990.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 1990-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 75 joules per kilogram, CIN -119, lifted condensation level 1929 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Rapid City, SD at 00:00Z on 1990-06-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 12 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
75 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-119 J/kg
Surface CAPE
262 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1929 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
192 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Valentine (VTN), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:00 UTC8058190° 12 kt1006.8
21:00 UTC8359170° 12 kt1005.8
22:00 UTC8254290° 11 kt1005.8
23:00 UTC7758330° 11 kt1006.4TSRA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1990 tornado in South DakotaEvery tornado in South Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in South Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 7, 1990

23 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 712:55 AM MDTF0El Paso, CO0.110
June 710:30 AM CDTF0Fremont, IA0.120under $50
June 72:15 PM CDTF1Miller, MO0.250$50,000 to $500,000
June 73:49 PM CDTF1Crawford, MO0.250$50 to $500
June 74:25 PM CDTF1Todd, SD1.040
June 75:55 PM EDTF0Pinellas, FL0.210$500 to $5,000
June 75:15 PM CDTF0Todd, SD0.520
June 76:10 PM CDTF0Shawnee, KS0.210
June 76:15 PM CDTF0Osage, KS1.010
June 76:48 PM CDTF1Osage, KS4.010$50,000 to $500,000
June 77:30 PM CDTF2Lyon, KS10.010017$5 million to $50 million
June 77:40 PM CDTF0Osage, KS6.010$50,000 to $500,000
June 77:00 PM MDTF0Adams, CO0.120
June 78:40 PM CDTF1Moniteau, MO0.250
June 78:50 PM CDTF1Moniteau, MO0.250
June 79:03 PM CDTF0Butler, KS1.050
June 79:10 PM CDTF1Moniteau, MO0.250$5,000 to $50,000
June 79:10 PM CDTF1Marion, KS2.077$50,000 to $500,000
June 79:14 PM CDTF0Marion, KS1.050
June 79:20 PM CDTF2Moniteau, MO0.573$5 million to $50 million
June 79:25 PM CDTF1Miller, MO0.250
June 79:36 PM CDTF1Miller, MO0.250
June 710:50 PM CDTF2Reno, KS7.0100$500,000 to $5 million

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.