Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota

1993 tornadoes in South Dakota

83 tornadoes touched down in South Dakota in 1993, 224 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody. 2 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

1992 1994 The whole country in 1993

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 1993

May 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 5	8:50 PM MDT	F0	Custer	0.1	50			$50 to $500
May 5	10:10 PM MDT	F0	Pennington	0.1	50

May 7 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 7	3:06 PM CDT	F0	Minnehaha	5.0	50
May 7	3:06 PM CDT	F2	Lincoln	15.0	100	1	$50,000 to $500,000
May 7	3:06 PM CDT	F2	Lincoln	15.0	100		$50,000 to $500,000
May 7	4:30 PM CDT	F1	Hutchinson	7.0	50		$5,000 to $50,000
May 7	6:15 PM CDT	F2	McCook	1.0	73		$50,000 to $500,000
May 7	6:15 PM CDT	F2	Hutchinson	2.0	73		$50,000 to $500,000
May 7	6:20 PM CDT	F3	McCook	10.0	100		$500,000 to $5 million
May 7	6:55 PM CDT	F1	Moody	15.0	50		$50,000 to $500,000

June 7 26 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 7	1:45 PM CDT	F1	Brule	13.0	73	2	$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	1:50 PM CDT	F0	Buffalo	0.1	30
June 7	1:55 PM CDT	F0	Buffalo	0.1	30
June 7	2:10 PM CDT	F1	Hughes	0.4	40		$500 to $5,000
June 7	2:46 PM CDT	F0	Hand	0.1	30
June 7	2:55 PM CDT	F0	Hand	0.1	30
June 7	3:07 PM CDT	F0	Hand	0.1	30
June 7	3:30 PM CDT	F3	Spink	5.0	400		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	3:30 PM CDT	F2	Miner	3.0	73		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	3:30 PM CDT	F2	Miner	3.0	73		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	3:30 PM CDT	F2	Miner	3.0	73		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	3:35 PM CDT	F2	Sanborn	9.0	100		$5,000 to $50,000
June 7	3:40 PM CDT	F2	Spink	10.0	100		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	3:40 PM CDT	F2	Spink	10.0	100		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	3:40 PM CDT	F2	Spink	10.0	100		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	3:45 PM CDT	F1	Hanson	12.0	73		$5,000 to $50,000
June 7	3:54 PM CDT	F1	McCook	5.0	100		$5,000 to $50,000
June 7	4:03 PM CDT	F0	Beadle	0.2	30
June 7	4:03 PM CDT	F1	Beadle	1.0	50		$5,000 to $50,000
June 7	4:07 PM CDT	F1	McCook	2.0	100		$500 to $5,000
June 7	4:23 PM CDT	F3	McCook	5.0	250		$5,000 to $50,000
June 7	4:30 PM CDT	F4	Minnehaha	54.0	800	5	$5 million to $50 million
June 7	4:40 PM CDT	F4	Lake	10.0	500	4	$500,000 to $5 million
June 7	4:50 PM CDT	F3	Lake	6.0	100		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	4:50 PM CDT	F3	Lake	6.0	100		$50,000 to $500,000
June 7	6:00 PM CDT	F0	Deuel	0.3	30		$50 to $500

June 12 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 12	6:59 PM CDT	F1	Hughes	1.0	50
June 12	7:15 PM CDT	F0	Hughes	0.1	30
June 12	7:26 PM CDT	F2	Hughes	1.0	100	$50,000 to $500,000

June 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 15	9:15 PM MDT	F1	Haakon	0.5	40		2	$5,000 to $50,000

June 22 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 22	6:15 PM CDT	F0		0.1	13
June 22	6:30 PM MDT	F0	Pennington	10.0	30
June 22	9:00 PM CDT	F1	Edmunds	0.5	50	$5,000 to $50,000
June 22	9:25 PM CDT	F1	Edmunds	0.5	50	$5,000 to $50,000
June 22	10:05 PM CDT	F1	Spink	15.0	73	$5,000 to $50,000
June 22	10:25 PM CDT	F0	Brown	0.5	30

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	7:15 PM CDT	F2	Gregory	3.0	100			$50,000 to $500,000

June 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 27	12:15 AM CDT	F1	Lyman	0.5	40			$5,000 to $50,000
June 27	12:47 AM CDT	F0	Hughes	0.5	30

June 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 29	4:35 PM CDT	F1	Tripp	20.0	73			$50 to $500
June 29	4:50 PM CDT	F2	Tripp	5.0	100			$5,000 to $50,000

July 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 1	5:15 PM CDT	F0	Brookings	1.0	40

July 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 2	8:56 PM MDT	F0	Fall River	2.0	30			$50 to $500
July 2	9:30 PM MDT	F0	Fall River	1.0	23			under $50

July 3 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
July 3	1:00 AM CDT	F0		2.0	23		under $50
July 3	5:35 PM CDT	F0	Edmunds	1.0	23
July 3	8:20 PM CDT	F0	Hutchinson	2.0	33		$500 to $5,000
July 3	9:00 PM CDT	F1	Lake	2.0	40	1	$5,000 to $50,000

July 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 7	5:15 PM MDT	F0	Perkins	0.5	23
July 7	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Moody	2.0	30			$50 to $500

July 12 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 12	4:30 PM MDT	F2	Lawrence	2.0	40			$500 to $5,000
July 12	4:50 PM MDT	F0	Meade	0.5	23

July 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 15	8:20 PM MDT	F0	Meade	0.1	20

July 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 18	8:15 PM CDT	F0	Lyman	0.1	20
July 18	8:20 PM CDT	F0	Hand	0.1	20
July 18	9:40 PM CDT	F1	Kingsbury	3.0	30	$5,000 to $50,000

July 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 22	6:00 PM CDT	F0	Lyman	0.2	20
July 22	6:20 PM CDT	F0	Walworth	5.0	30

July 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 26	1:20 PM MDT	F0	Meade	0.2	30	$500 to $5,000
July 26	3:45 PM MDT	F0	Fall River	0.1	20
July 26	8:50 PM MDT	F0	Dewey	0.1	23

July 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 30	11:49 PM MDT	F0	Meade	0.1	13

August 13 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 13	9:30 PM MDT	F0	Butte	0.2	33	under $50
August 13	9:55 PM MDT	F0	Custer	0.2	30	under $50
August 13	10:46 PM MDT	F0	Lawrence	0.1	30
August 13	10:55 PM MDT	F0	Butte	0.2	30	$50 to $500
August 13	11:00 PM MDT	F0	Meade	0.1	23
August 13	11:00 PM MDT	F0	Meade	0.1	23
August 13	11:12 PM MDT	F0	Meade	0.2	30
August 13	11:30 PM MDT	F0	Perkins	0.5	33	$5,000 to $50,000

August 29 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
August 29	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Sully	0.2	20
August 29	7:25 PM CDT	F0	Sully	0.2	20
August 29	7:45 PM CDT	F0	Sully	0.2	20

Crossed into South Dakota

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into South Dakota. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	3:57 PM CDT	F2	Lyon, IA to SD	11.5	100			$50,000 to $500,000
June 29	11:50 AM CDT	F3	Lawrence, WY to SD	3.0	150			$500 to $5,000

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.