YearFinal SPC data

1966

585 tornadoes in 1966, with 711 hail and 1,049 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 169 F1 239 F2 145 F3 25 F4 4 F5 3

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

1966 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19661991 to 2020 average1961 to 1971 (other years)

585 tornadoes in 1966, 52% 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	05/23/66	24	0	0	F3	IA, IL, MI, MO, ND, TX, WI
2	10/14/66	22	1	6	F5	IA, IL, MN, MO
3	07/10/66	17	0	0	F2	IN, MN, TX, WI
4	05/11/66	15	0	0	F3	KS, MO, OK
5	06/08/66	14	2	18	F5	FL, IL, KS, OK
6	04/19/66	13	0	0	F3	AR, IA, IL, KS, MO, TX, WI
7	06/24/66	11	0	1	F1	MN, ND, NE, SD
8	04/26/66	10	0	1	F2	AL, MS, SD
9	06/05/66	10	0	0	F2	IA, MN, MO, OK
10	05/16/66	8	0	0	F2	AR, GA, IA, KS, OK
11	06/04/66	8	0	0	F2	CO, NE, SD, WI
12	06/15/66	8	0	0	F2	FL, IA, IN, KS, ND, OK, WY
13	07/31/66	8	0	3	F3	ND, SD
14	06/11/66	7	1	0	F4	IA, MN
15	02/14/66	7	0	0	F0	MS

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	07/10/66	71	17	16	38	4 in	75 kt (86 mph)
2	05/23/66	60	24	14	22	2 in	72 kt (83 mph)
3	04/19/66	56	13	33	10	2.5 in	55 kt (63 mph)
4	05/15/66	54	5	24	25	2.75 in	61 kt (70 mph)
5	10/14/66	50	22	9	19	2.75 in	70 kt (81 mph)
6	06/07/66	49	5	30	14	3 in	90 kt (104 mph)
7	06/15/66	47	8	12	27	1.75 in	88 kt (101 mph)
8	05/20/66	45	4	35	6	2.75 in	–
9	07/05/66	42	5	4	33	2.75 in	76 kt (87 mph)
10	05/11/66	33	15	10	8	2.75 in	56 kt (64 mph)
11	07/14/66	33	0	6	27	2.5 in	66 kt (76 mph)
12	07/04/66	32	4	5	23	4.5 in	61 kt (70 mph)
13	06/08/66	31	14	4	13	1.75 in	72 kt (83 mph)
14	06/09/66	31	4	8	19	4 in	66 kt (76 mph)
15	07/06/66	30	4	9	17	2 in	75 kt (86 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	04/28/66	5 in	Tom Green County, TX
2	07/04/66	4.5 in	Becker County, MN
3	04/28/66	4 in	Kinney County, TX
4	06/09/66	4 in	Jeff Davis County, TX
5	07/09/66	4 in	Hennepin County, MN
6	07/10/66	4 in	Fayette County, KY
7	04/12/66	3.5 in	Saline County, AR
8	05/22/66	3.5 in	Hamilton County, NE
9	05/22/66	3.5 in	Saunders County, NE
10	05/30/66	3.5 in	Hill County, MT
11	04/12/66	3 in	Davidson County, TN
12	06/07/66	3 in	Harvey County, KS
13	06/07/66	3 in	Rice County, KS
14	06/07/66	3 in	McPherson County, KS
15	06/07/66	3 in	Barton County, KS

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	08/11/66	130 kt	150	Not given	NJ
2	08/08/66	100 kt	115	Not given	Ramsey County, ND
3	06/07/66	90 kt	104	Not given	Muskogee County, OK
4	06/15/66	88 kt	101	Not given	Washington County, OK
5	06/08/66	87 kt	100	Not given	Lyon County, KS
6	08/05/66	87 kt	100	Not given	Kittson County, MN
7	06/11/66	86 kt	99	Not given	Ward County, TX
8	09/27/66	86 kt	99	Not given	Lee County, TX
9	06/17/66	82 kt	94	Not given	Moore County, TX
10	04/28/66	80 kt	92	Not given	Lafayette County, MS
11	07/07/66	80 kt	92	Not given	Rutherford County, TN
12	07/09/66	80 kt	92	Not given	New Hanover County, NC
13	07/13/66	80 kt	92	Not given	Hamilton County, IN
14	07/13/66	80 kt	92	Not given	Butler County, OH
15	07/31/66	80 kt	92	Not given	Brown County, SD

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
03/03/66	F5	Utica, MS to Brookwood, AL	MS, AL	203 mi	900 yd	58	518
04/04/66	F4	Belleair Bluffs to Cape Canaveral, Florida	FL	136 mi	300 yd	11	530
04/27/66	F4	Tishomingo to Caddo, Oklahoma	OK	10.2 mi	300 yd	0	2
06/08/66	F5	Auburn to Topeka, Kansas	KS	21.1 mi	880 yd	16	450
06/08/66	F4	McLouth to Lansing, Kansas	KS	19.9 mi	200 yd	1	2
06/11/66	F4	Jenkins to Cloquet, Minnesota	MN	72.8 mi	333 yd	0	0
10/14/66	F5	Belmond, Iowa	IA	9.7 mi	1,000 yd	6	172

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
03/03/66	F5	Utica, MS to Brookwood, AL	MS, AL	203 mi	900 yd	58	518
06/08/66	F5	Auburn to Topeka, Kansas	KS	21.1 mi	880 yd	16	450
04/04/66	F4	Belleair Bluffs to Cape Canaveral, Florida	FL	136 mi	300 yd	11	530
10/14/66	F5	Belmond, Iowa	IA	9.7 mi	1,000 yd	6	172
07/31/66	F3	Ashley, ND to Ipswich, SD	ND, SD	26.4 mi	280 yd	2	4
04/26/66	F1	Mendenhall, Mississippi	MS	0.1 mi	10 yd	1	10
06/08/66	F4	McLouth to Lansing, Kansas	KS	19.9 mi	200 yd	1	2
06/09/66	F2	Prospect Heights, Illinois	IL	2.5 mi	10 yd	1	30
06/24/66	F1	Walhalla, North Dakota	ND	0.1 mi	10 yd	1	1
07/31/66	F2	Aberdeen, South Dakota	SD	2.3 mi	253 yd	1	3

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