Tornadoes · United States · South Dakota

2021 tornadoes in South Dakota

21 tornadoes touched down in South Dakota in 2021, 18 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2020 2022 The whole country in 2021

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.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 2021

May 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 15	12:54 PM CDT	Unrated	Clay	1.3	25

May 23 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
May 23	3:50 PM MDT	Unrated	Perkins	2.1	10
May 23	3:55 PM MDT	EF1	Custer	6.6	20
May 23	3:58 PM MDT	Unrated	Perkins	4.3	10
May 23	4:04 PM MDT	EF1	Custer	5.9	10

May 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 24	8:36 PM CDT	Unrated	Lake	3.3	25

June 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	8:57 PM CDT	EF0	Campbell	0.1	10

June 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	6:18 PM MDT	EF0	Corson	0.2	10

August 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 22	7:55 PM CDT	EF0	Day	0.0	10

August 28 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
August 28	4:21 PM CDT	Unrated	Turner	0.5	40
August 28	4:22 PM CDT	EF1	Lincoln	2.3	150	$200,000
August 28	4:25 PM CDT	Unrated	Lincoln	0.9	20
August 28	4:30 PM CDT	Unrated	Lincoln	1.6	20
August 28	4:35 PM CDT	Unrated	Lincoln	1.1	30

October 9 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
October 9	4:12 PM CDT	EF0	Spink	1.2	100
October 9	5:12 PM CDT	EF0	Marshall	0.0	10
October 9	5:31 PM CDT	EF0	Day	0.0	10

October 13 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
October 13	1:15 PM CDT	EF0	Sully	0.2	10
October 13	3:03 PM CDT	EF0	Roberts	2.4	10
October 13	3:25 PM CDT	EF0	Roberts	0.1	10
October 13	3:30 PM CDT	EF0	Roberts	0.1	10

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.