YearFinal SPC data

1961

697 tornadoes in 1961, with 706 hail and 752 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 154 F1 241 F2 229 F3 66 F4 7

Hail and wind show significant reports only (2 in or larger, 65 kt or stronger). Click a legend item to show or hide it, or "only" to see just that. Select anything on the map to open its record.

Tornadoes by month

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Hail reports by month

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Wind reports by month

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Storm days

Every day with a tornado, hail or wind report. Warmer colors mean more tornadoes; gray days had hail or wind only; a white ring marks a day with an F4/EF4 or stronger tornado.

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Running count

1961 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19611991 to 2020 average1956 to 1966 (other years)

697 tornadoes in 1961, 43% below the 1991 to 2020 average of 1,231.

Counts by storm day (12Z to 12Z). Reporting changed a great deal over the decades, so years far from 1991 to 2020 are not a like-for-like comparison with the average.

Busiest tornado days

#	Day	Tornadoes	F/EF4+	Deaths	Strongest	States
1	03/26/61	27	0	0	F3	AR, KS, OK, TX
2	03/12/61	24	0	2	F3	AR, KS, MO
3	05/07/61	21	1	0	F4	AR, KS, KY, MO, OK, TX
4	03/05/61	20	0	0	F3	AR, IL, IN, KS, MO, OK
5	06/05/61	19	0	0	F2	CO, KS, NE, NM, OK, TX
6	05/06/61	16	0	5	F3	AR, CO, IN, KS, MO, OH, OK
7	11/22/61	16	0	1	F3	AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, TX
8	05/04/61	14	0	1	F3	OK, TX, UT
9	06/07/61	13	0	0	F2	IA, IL, MO, NM, OK, TX
10	03/31/61	12	0	1	F3	AL, FL, GA
11	07/21/61	12	0	0	F3	IL, IN, MA, NH, TX, VT
12	05/14/61	11	0	0	F3	AR, IA, IL, LA, MN, SD, WI
13	02/24/61	10	0	0	F2	AL, GA, SC
14	03/06/61	10	0	1	F3	IN, OH
15	05/21/61	10	0	0	F3	OK

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	05/07/61	62	21	27	14	3 in	75 kt (86 mph)
2	03/26/61	46	27	14	5	3.5 in	65 kt (75 mph)
3	06/05/61	37	19	9	9	4 in	76 kt (87 mph)
4	03/05/61	35	20	8	7	2.5 in	65 kt (75 mph)
5	04/30/61	34	9	15	10	7 in	80 kt (92 mph)
6	05/05/61	33	9	11	13	2.5 in	70 kt (81 mph)
7	05/06/61	33	16	14	3	2.75 in	90 kt (104 mph)
8	03/12/61	32	24	7	1	2.75 in	–
9	05/21/61	32	10	15	7	3 in	70 kt (81 mph)
10	05/14/61	28	11	3	14	2.75 in	70 kt (81 mph)
11	06/03/61	28	7	17	4	4 in	70 kt (81 mph)
12	07/19/61	28	0	12	16	3 in	87 kt (100 mph)
13	08/04/61	28	2	9	17	2.75 in	87 kt (100 mph)
14	04/24/61	27	5	13	9	2.5 in	87 kt (100 mph)
15	04/25/61	27	4	8	15	2.75 in	100 kt (115 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	04/30/61	7 in	Canadian County, OK
2	04/23/61	6 in	Kankakee County, IL
3	04/20/61	4.5 in	Adair County, IA
4	06/24/61	4.5 in	Ness County, KS
5	03/27/61	4 in	Caddo Parish, LA
6	05/16/61	4 in	Washita County, OK
7	05/25/61	4 in	Parmer County, TX
8	05/25/61	4 in	Lavaca County, TX
9	06/03/61	4 in	Bailey County, TX
10	06/05/61	4 in	Armstrong County, TX
11	06/21/61	4 in	Brown County, SD
12	07/18/61	4 in	Holt County, NE
13	07/18/61	4 in	Merrick County, NE
14	08/27/61	4 in	ME
15	11/22/61	4 in	McCulloch County, TX

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	04/12/61	100 kt	115	Not given	Beaufort County, SC
2	04/25/61	100 kt	115	Not given	Clinton County, OH
3	05/06/61	90 kt	104	Not given	Lee County, MS
4	06/29/61	88 kt	101	Not given	Hill County, MT
5	04/23/61	87 kt	100	Not given	Marshall County, IA
6	04/24/61	87 kt	100	Not given	Montgomery County, KS
7	07/19/61	87 kt	100	Not given	Ellis County, KS
8	08/04/61	87 kt	100	Not given	Polk County, TX
9	02/25/61	84 kt	97	Not given	Forsyth County, NC
10	05/31/61	83 kt	96	Not given	Sherman County, KS
11	03/07/61	80 kt	92	Not given	Angelina County, TX
12	04/08/61	80 kt	92	Not given	Wichita County, TX
13	04/30/61	80 kt	92	Not given	Denton County, TX
14	05/08/61	80 kt	92	Not given	Marshall County, OK
15	07/21/61	80 kt	92	Not given	Davidson County, TN

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
04/25/61	F4	Shelbyville, IN to Eaton, OH	IN, OH	63.1 mi	550 yd	0	7
05/05/61	F4	Talihina to Howe, Oklahoma	OK	26.4 mi	400 yd	16	58
05/07/61	F4	Basehor, KS to Liberty, MO	KS, MO	26.2 mi	50 yd	0	12
05/30/61	F4	Broken Bow to Ord, Nebraska	NE	48.1 mi	10 yd	0	0
06/29/61	F4	Glendive, Montana	MT	15.9 mi	10 yd	0	1
09/01/61	F4	Dumont to Nashua, Iowa	IA	26.6 mi	27 yd	0	7
09/12/61	F4	Tiki Island, Texas	TX	1.0 mi	100 yd	8	200

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
05/05/61	F4	Talihina to Howe, Oklahoma	OK	26.4 mi	400 yd	16	58
09/12/61	F4	Tiki Island, Texas	TX	1.0 mi	100 yd	8	200
09/12/61	F3	Jonesboro, Louisiana	LA	2.0 mi	400 yd	5	37
05/07/61	F3	Yellville to Summit, Arkansas	AR	14.2 mi	1,760 yd	3	9
03/27/61	F3	Appleby to Garrison, Texas	TX	13.8 mi	200 yd	2	4
04/25/61	F2	Blanchester to Leesburg, Ohio	OH	25.0 mi	50 yd	2	4
05/07/61	F2	Bradford, Arkansas	AR	1.5 mi	300 yd	2	6
03/04/61	F2	Chicago to Evanston, Illinois	IL	7.9 mi	100 yd	1	115
03/06/61	F3	Kokomo, Indiana	IN	2.0 mi	300 yd	1	3
03/12/61	F2	Altus to Lamar, Arkansas	AR	28.8 mi	17 yd	1	18
03/12/61	F2	Gainesville to West Plains, Missouri	MO	21.1 mi	150 yd	1	11
03/31/61	F3	Unadilla, Georgia	GA	1.0 mi	100 yd	1	14
04/12/61	F1	Hartsville, South Carolina	SC	0.5 mi	40 yd	1	0
04/23/61	F3	Marshalltown to Monticello, Iowa	IA	87.7 mi	800 yd	1	12
05/04/61	F3	Geary, Oklahoma	OK	9.5 mi	10 yd	1	0

Storm days. A day here runs from 12Z to 12Z (6 a.m. CST to 6 a.m. CST the next morning), the way SPC counts storm days, so an overnight tornado counts with the afternoon and evening before it.
Reporting changed over time. Tornado counts rose from the 1990s on as Doppler radar, spotter networks and cameras caught more weak tornadoes. Counts from different decades are not directly comparable, especially for the weakest ratings.
F and EF ratings. The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale replaced the Fujita (F) Scale on 02/01/07. Both estimate wind speed from damage, but they use different damage indicators, so each rating is shown with its own scale.
Ratings before the mid 1970s. The F Scale came into use in the early 1970s. Tornadoes from 1950 until then were rated afterward from newspaper accounts, photos and records, which tends to make those ratings less certain.

Titan Archive · a Tornado Titans project Data: NOAA Storm Prediction Center severe weather database · updated 10/03/26