Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota

2010 tornadoes in South Dakota

38 tornadoes touched down in South Dakota in 2010, 48 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

2009 2011 The whole country in 2010

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

  6. EF5over 200 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.

Every tornado in South Dakota in 2010

May 22 10 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 225:31 PM CDTEF0Walworth0.550
May 226:16 PM CDTEF1Walworth0.5100
May 226:21 PM CDTEF4Bowdle tornado5.71,200
May 227:10 PM CDTEF0Edmunds0.330
May 227:48 PM CDTEF0Edmunds0.210
May 227:48 PM CDTEF0Edmunds0.230
May 228:01 PM CDTEF2Edmunds18.6200
May 228:26 PM CDTEF1Hyde1.6100
May 229:10 PM CDTEF2Brown1.3100
May 229:11 PM CDTEF2Tripp2.9150$80,000

May 24 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 241:24 PM MDTEF2Meade22.3440$100,000
May 242:00 PM MDTEF0Meade4.9100
May 242:34 PM MDTEF2Perkins22.9440$100,000
May 242:55 PM MDTEF2Perkins8.2440$100,000
May 243:34 PM MDTEF0Perkins0.130$500

June 16 7 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 165:04 PM MDTEF0Ziebach0.020
June 165:30 PM MDTEF0Ziebach0.130
June 166:22 PM MDTEF1Ziebach2.3450$10,000
June 166:33 PM MDTEF2Ziebach1.44502$750,000
June 166:40 PM MDTEF0Ziebach0.130
June 166:53 PM MDTEF0Ziebach0.130
June 167:35 PM MDTEF2Dewey0.450

June 20 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 205:57 PM MDTEF0Pennington0.120$2,000

June 26 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 265:27 PM CDTEF0Hutchinson0.150
June 266:02 PM CDTEF0Miner0.350

July 6 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 64:21 PM CDTEF0Brule0.350
July 65:48 PM CDTEF0Brule0.550
July 66:28 PM CDTEF0Brule1.050
July 67:00 PM CDTEF0Douglas1.0100
July 67:25 PM CDTEF0Douglas1.5100

July 23 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 235:57 PM CDTEF0Lyman0.330
July 237:50 PM CDTEF0Spink2.130
July 237:52 PM CDTEF0Brule0.150
July 237:55 PM CDTEF0Gregory0.150
July 237:58 PM CDTEF0Gregory0.250

August 3 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 36:57 PM CDTEF0Hanson0.950

September 1 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 18:40 PM CDTEF0Spink0.420
September 18:59 PM CDTEF0Spink0.320

Nearby

Every tornado in South Dakota since 1950Warnings in force in South DakotaThe 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.