Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota

2003 tornadoes in South Dakota

81 tornadoes touched down in South Dakota in 2003, 217 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

2002 2004 The whole country in 2003

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 2003

May 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 3	6:35 PM MDT	F0	Perkins	0.5	10

May 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 4	4:30 PM CDT	F0	Todd	1.0	10

June 9 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 9	4:18 PM MDT	F0	Ziebach	0.1	10
June 9	7:15 PM CDT	F1	Tripp	10.2	10	$10,000
June 9	7:42 PM CDT	F0	Gregory	0.1	50
June 9	8:02 PM CDT	F0	Gregory	4.0	400

June 11 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 11	7:42 PM CDT	F0	Potter	0.1	25
June 11	7:58 PM CDT	F0	Sully	0.4	25
June 11	8:09 PM CDT	F0	Lyman	0.1	25
June 11	9:13 PM CDT	F0	Lyman	0.5	50
June 11	9:30 PM CDT	F0	Lyman	0.1	25

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	7:50 PM CDT	F0	Grant	0.1	25

June 24 66 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 24	5:15 PM CDT	F0	Davison	0.4	50
June 24	5:17 PM CDT	F2	Davison	6.0	400		$500,000
June 24	5:58 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.2	50
June 24	6:17 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	1.0	50
June 24	6:19 PM CDT	F0	Sanborn	0.1	50
June 24	6:23 PM CDT	F3	Sanborn	6.0	500		$510,000
June 24	6:30 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	50
June 24	6:42 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.1	50
June 24	6:42 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.5	50
June 24	6:45 PM CDT	F0	Sanborn	0.5	50
June 24	6:55 PM CDT	F0	Sanborn	0.1	50
June 24	7:00 PM CDT	F0	Beadle	0.2	50
June 24	7:00 PM CDT	F0	Beadle	0.2	50
June 24	7:16 PM CDT	F0	Beadle	0.1	50
June 24	7:27 PM CDT	F0	Kingsbury	0.4	100
June 24	7:29 PM CDT	F4	Manchester tornado	10.0	1,000	4	$3.0 million
June 24	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.7	100
June 24	7:30 PM CDT	F0	Clay	1.0	100
June 24	7:32 PM CDT	F1	Clay	1.5	200
June 24	7:32 PM CDT	F0	Clay	2.0	100
June 24	7:33 PM CDT	F0	Clay	0.5	50
June 24	7:33 PM CDT	F0	Turner	1.0	100
June 24	7:35 PM CDT	F0	Codington	0.5	25
June 24	7:38 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.5	50
June 24	7:52 PM CDT	F0	Kingsbury	0.1	50
June 24	7:54 PM CDT	F0	Charles Mix	0.5	50
June 24	7:55 PM CDT	F0	Turner	2.0	100
June 24	7:58 PM CDT	F2	Kingsbury	2.2	200		$200,000
June 24	8:00 PM CDT	F2	Turner	7.0	400
June 24	8:03 PM CDT	F1	Charles Mix	3.0	200		$50,000
June 24	8:05 PM CDT	F1	Kingsbury	0.7	100
June 24	8:10 PM CDT	F1	Lincoln	2.8	100
June 24	8:10 PM CDT	F0	Turner	3.5	100
June 24	8:10 PM CDT	F1	Charles Mix	3.0	150
June 24	8:17 PM CDT	F0	Kingsbury	0.1	50
June 24	8:19 PM CDT	F0	Kingsbury	0.1	50
June 24	8:20 PM CDT	F0	Turner	0.7	50
June 24	8:20 PM CDT	F0	Turner	1.0	50
June 24	8:20 PM CDT	F1	Kingsbury	0.7	100
June 24	8:20 PM CDT	F2	Lincoln	7.7	300		$500,000
June 24	8:28 PM CDT	F1	Kingsbury	1.5	300
June 24	8:30 PM CDT	F1	Lincoln	3.5	100		$200,000
June 24	8:30 PM CDT	F0	Hand	0.1	25
June 24	8:32 PM CDT	F0	Kingsbury	0.1	50
June 24	8:35 PM CDT	F0	Hamlin	0.1	25
June 24	8:52 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.6	50
June 24	8:55 PM CDT	F0	Douglas	0.7	50
June 24	8:55 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.8	50
June 24	9:00 PM CDT	F1	Lincoln	1.3	100
June 24	9:05 PM CDT	F0	Douglas	0.7	50
June 24	9:05 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	2.3	100
June 24	9:07 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	1.5	50
June 24	9:09 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	1.2	50
June 24	9:12 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.8	50
June 24	9:25 PM CDT	F3	Beadle	3.5	300		$1.5 million
June 24	9:30 PM CDT	F2	Turner	1.5	200		$3.0 million
June 24	9:40 PM CDT	F0	Turner	0.6	100
June 24	9:50 PM CDT	F1	Minnehaha	0.6	100	3	$500,000
June 24	10:05 PM CDT	F2	Beadle	2.0	150
June 24	10:05 PM CDT	F1	Minnehaha	1.7	100		$2.5 million
June 24	10:13 PM CDT	F1	Kingsbury	0.7	100
June 24	10:34 PM CDT	F0	Minnehaha	0.5	50
June 24	10:40 PM CDT	F0	Lake	0.8	50
June 24	10:40 PM CDT	F1	Turner	1.2	100		$1.0 million
June 24	10:47 PM CDT	F0	Lincoln	0.9	50
June 24	10:50 PM CDT	F0	Moody	0.8	50

July 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 3	7:58 PM MDT	F2	Bennett	3.0	100			$70,000

July 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 20	4:00 AM CDT	F0	Marshall	0.1	25

July 29 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 29	3:23 PM CDT	F0	Spink	0.1	50

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.