YearFinal SPC data

1970

653 tornadoes in 1970, with 718 hail and 1,790 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 164 F1 253 F2 191 F3 36 F4 8 F5 1

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

1970 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19701991 to 2020 average1965 to 1975 (other years)

653 tornadoes in 1970, 47% 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	06/11/70	21	0	3	F3	AR, KS, ND, NE, OK
2	06/12/70	18	1	0	F4	FL, IA, KS, MO, NE, OH, SD
3	06/15/70	17	0	0	F3	KS, MN, NE, SD
4	04/19/70	16	1	4	F4	AR, FL, GA, IL, IN, MO, MS, TN, UT
5	04/01/70	15	0	0	F3	AL, GA, KY, MO, MS, TN
6	04/26/70	13	0	0	F3	AL, MS, OK, TX
7	05/14/70	12	0	0	F2	IN, OH, TX
8	09/03/70	12	0	0	F3	AR, IN, KS, OH, OK, PA, TN
9	06/14/70	11	0	0	F3	IL, IN, KS, ND, OH, SD
10	04/18/70	10	0	0	F3	LA, NM, OK, TX
11	04/29/70	10	0	0	F2	AR, IA, IN, MI, MN, MO, OK, WI
12	04/23/70	9	0	0	F3	AR, IN, KY, MS, TN, WV
13	04/30/70	9	0	0	F3	AR, IL, MI, MO
14	05/09/70	9	0	0	F2	IA, IL, KS, MO, OK, WI
15	05/11/70	8	1	26	F5	IA, KS, NE, OR, TX

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	06/11/70	76	21	15	40	2.5 in	78 kt (90 mph)
2	04/19/70	71	16	1	54	1 in	70 kt (81 mph)
3	09/03/70	67	12	18	37	8 in	62 kt (71 mph)
4	04/29/70	61	10	23	28	4 in	75 kt (86 mph)
5	06/18/70	60	6	18	36	4.5 in	74 kt (85 mph)
6	06/15/70	59	17	15	27	3 in	80 kt (92 mph)
7	07/02/70	56	5	2	49	0.75 in	64 kt (74 mph)
8	04/02/70	54	4	0	50	–	70 kt (81 mph)
9	07/14/70	54	8	17	29	5 in	82 kt (94 mph)
10	07/04/70	51	4	3	44	1.75 in	86 kt (99 mph)
11	06/21/70	48	6	12	30	2.75 in	71 kt (82 mph)
12	04/01/70	46	15	5	26	2 in	51 kt (59 mph)
13	05/09/70	46	9	21	16	3 in	61 kt (70 mph)
14	06/12/70	45	18	10	17	2.75 in	62 kt (71 mph)
15	05/12/70	44	6	24	14	4 in	70 kt (81 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	06/19/70	8 in	Izard County, AR
2	09/03/70	8 in	Montgomery County, KS
3	07/14/70	5 in	Turner County, SD
4	09/03/70	5 in	Montgomery County, KS
5	06/18/70	4.5 in	Baltimore city, MD
6	04/17/70	4 in	Hockley County, TX
7	04/18/70	4 in	Bexar County, TX
8	04/29/70	4 in	Ripley County, IN
9	04/29/70	4 in	Blaine County, OK
10	04/29/70	4 in	Jackson County, OK
11	05/10/70	4 in	Sedgwick County, KS
12	05/11/70	4 in	Benton County, IA
13	05/11/70	4 in	Lubbock County, TX
14	05/12/70	4 in	Beckham County, OK
15	05/12/70	4 in	Beckham County, OK

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	09/21/70	100 kt	115	Not given	Oneida County, WI
2	08/20/70	94 kt	108	Not given	Okaloosa County, FL
3	06/27/70	92 kt	106	Not given	Gallatin County, MT
4	02/01/70	90 kt	104	Not given	Orleans Parish, LA
5	06/06/70	90 kt	104	Not given	Accomack County, VA
6	04/17/70	88 kt	101	Not given	Castro County, TX
7	07/04/70	86 kt	99	Not given	Yadkin County, NC
8	07/18/70	85 kt	98	Not given	Davison County, SD
9	07/14/70	82 kt	94	Not given	Buena Vista County, IA
10	06/05/70	80 kt	92	Not given	Nottoway County, VA
11	06/10/70	80 kt	92	Not given	San Juan County, NM
12	06/15/70	80 kt	92	Not given	Madison County, NE
13	07/03/70	80 kt	92	Not given	Wayne County, MI
14	09/06/70	80 kt	92	Not given	Kearney County, NE
15	09/22/70	80 kt	92	Not given	Cheshire County, NH

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
04/17/70	F4	Morton to Anton, Texas	TX	30.0 mi	880 yd	0	24
04/17/70	F4	Hale Center to Memphis, Texas	TX	96.6 mi	880 yd	5	51
04/17/70	F4	Muleshoe to Pampa, Texas	TX	130 mi	880 yd	1	13
04/18/70	F4	Tulia to McLean, Texas	TX	65.0 mi	880 yd	16	42
04/19/70	F4	Ripley, MS to Michie, TN	MS, TN	47.6 mi	100 yd	4	78
04/27/70	F4	Pleasant View to Westmoreland, Tennessee	TN	42.6 mi	250 yd	3	85
05/11/70	F5	Lubbock to Buffalo Springs, Texas	TX	8.4 mi	1,333 yd	26	500
06/12/70	F4	Salisbury to Bevier, Missouri	MO	16.1 mi	400 yd	0	0
10/05/70	F4	Shawnee to Boley, Oklahoma	OK	25.0 mi	150 yd	4	84

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
05/11/70	F5	Lubbock to Buffalo Springs, Texas	TX	8.4 mi	1,333 yd	26	500
04/18/70	F4	Tulia to McLean, Texas	TX	65.0 mi	880 yd	16	42
04/17/70	F4	Hale Center to Memphis, Texas	TX	96.6 mi	880 yd	5	51
04/19/70	F4	Ripley, MS to Michie, TN	MS, TN	47.6 mi	100 yd	4	78
10/05/70	F4	Shawnee to Boley, Oklahoma	OK	25.0 mi	150 yd	4	84
04/27/70	F4	Pleasant View to Westmoreland, Tennessee	TN	42.6 mi	250 yd	3	85
03/19/70	F3	Valley, Alabama	AL	2.0 mi	200 yd	2	14
04/17/70	F4	Muleshoe to Pampa, Texas	TX	130 mi	880 yd	1	13
04/25/70	F2	Oak Ridge, Texas	TX	0.1 mi	10 yd	1	0
06/11/70	F2	Vinita to Welch, Oklahoma	OK	15.4 mi	150 yd	1	1
06/11/70	F2	Eufaula, Oklahoma	OK	5.2 mi	440 yd	1	14
06/11/70	F3	Lyons Switch, OK to Garfield, AR	OK, AR	51.8 mi	250 yd	1	45
06/18/70	F1	Middleville, New York	NY	2.3 mi	10 yd	1	1
06/18/70	F3	Myerstown to Richland, Pennsylvania	PA	1.9 mi	880 yd	1	5
06/24/70	F3	Bishop, Texas	TX	1.5 mi	200 yd	1	15

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