F3 tornado, Northwest of to Montrose, South Dakota, May 7, 1993

1. F040 to 72 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F3

Date

May 7, 1993

Touchdown

6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)

Path length

10.0 miles (16.1 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000 to $5 million

County

McCook County

Touchdown point

43.600, -97.300

Lift-off point

43.700, -97.180

Record number

260

A tornado touched down on several farms destroying two pole barns, a grain bin, and a barn roof.

A tornado caused extensive damage in the Canistota area. Four metal grain storage bins were severely damaged and the roof was blown off the grain elevator. A large roof was blown off a building in Canistota resulting in rain seeping through the floors of the building. The roof blew into another building causing damage, and the flying debris took out power lines and transformers. The storm nearly totaled a farm including the house, and destroyed barns on other farms. Buildings were damaged in Montrose and a farm and metal buildings were lost on a farm east of Montrose.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 07:04 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.

Sioux Falls (FSD), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 1993 tornado in South DakotaEvery tornado in South Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in South Dakota nowThe forecast where you are

45 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.