YearFinal SPC data

1976

834 tornadoes in 1976, with 1,091 hail and 1,740 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 241 F1 361 F2 168 F3 48 F4 13 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

1976 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19761991 to 2020 average1971 to 1981 (other years)

834 tornadoes in 1976, 32% 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	03/20/76	51	3	3	F4	AL, AR, FL, IL, IN, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS +2
2	06/11/76	33	0	0	F2	MN, ND, NE, NY
3	03/12/76	27	0	4	F3	AL, IL, IN, MI
4	04/15/76	24	0	0	F3	KS, MI, MN, NE, TX, WI
5	06/04/76	21	0	0	F2	CO, FL, ND, TX, WY
6	03/29/76	20	2	9	F4	AL, AR, KS, MS, OK, TN, TX
7	04/19/76	20	1	0	F5	OK, TX
8	05/26/76	20	1	2	F4	AR, OK, TX
9	03/26/76	19	3	4	F5	AR, IL, MO, MS, OK, TX
10	05/29/76	17	0	0	F2	CO, FL, OK, WY
11	06/13/76	16	2	2	F5	IA, IL, TX, WI, WY
12	03/21/76	15	0	0	F3	DE, FL, MD, NY, PA, VA
13	05/30/76	15	0	2	F3	CO, GA, IL, NE, OK, TX
14	03/30/76	13	0	1	F3	AL, LA, MI, MS, TX
15	05/25/76	12	0	0	F3	CO, FL, NE, TX

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	03/20/76	200	51	42	107	4 in	85 kt (98 mph)
2	06/11/76	93	33	10	50	2.75 in	70 kt (81 mph)
3	03/26/76	84	19	32	33	2.5 in	65 kt (75 mph)
4	03/29/76	83	20	35	28	4.5 in	62 kt (71 mph)
5	06/13/76	73	16	14	43	3.5 in	69 kt (79 mph)
6	05/30/76	72	15	31	26	2.75 in	87 kt (100 mph)
7	06/29/76	70	8	33	29	2.5 in	68 kt (78 mph)
8	03/21/76	68	15	0	53	–	85 kt (98 mph)
9	01/13/76	64	5	0	59	–	83 kt (96 mph)
10	04/15/76	61	24	12	25	2 in	72 kt (83 mph)
11	07/15/76	61	6	1	54	0.75 in	84 kt (97 mph)
12	04/14/76	60	7	25	28	2.75 in	70 kt (81 mph)
13	05/26/76	59	20	35	4	3.5 in	61 kt (70 mph)
14	07/11/76	58	6	13	39	2 in	78 kt (90 mph)
15	02/20/76	52	9	15	28	2.75 in	74 kt (85 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	07/30/76	5 in	Brown County, NE
2	03/29/76	4.5 in	Hot Spring County, AR
3	05/25/76	4.5 in	Bosque County, TX
4	05/25/76	4.5 in	McLennan County, TX
5	03/20/76	4 in	Randolph County, IL
6	06/28/76	3.75 in	Jefferson County, IA
7	05/10/76	3.5 in	Tarrant County, TX
8	05/25/76	3.5 in	Madison County, TX
9	05/26/76	3.5 in	Burnet County, TX
10	05/26/76	3.5 in	Caldwell County, TX
11	06/13/76	3.5 in	Douglas County, NE
12	07/18/76	3.5 in	Denton County, TX
13	03/20/76	3 in	St. Clair County, IL
14	03/20/76	3 in	Washington County, IL
15	04/18/76	3 in	Goliad County, TX

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	04/19/76	100 kt	115	Not given	Tarrant County, TX
2	06/28/76	100 kt	115	Not given	Neosho County, KS
3	05/25/76	96 kt	110	Not given	Young County, TX
4	02/18/76	90 kt	104	Not given	Lincoln County, NC
5	07/12/76	89 kt	102	Not given	Blount County, TN
6	04/20/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Johnson County, TX
7	05/12/76	87 kt	100	Not given	McCurtain County, OK
8	05/25/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Pecos County, TX
9	05/30/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Throckmorton County, TX
10	05/31/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Starr County, TX
11	06/23/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Reno County, KS
12	06/26/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Emmet County, IA
13	07/09/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Harnett County, NC
14	07/10/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Lorain County, OH
15	07/12/76	87 kt	100	Not given	Dare County, NC

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
03/20/76	F4	Long Creek to Danville, Illinois	IL	63.7 mi	800 yd	0	18
03/20/76	F4	West Lafayette to Delphi, Indiana	IN	16.7 mi	300 yd	0	8
03/20/76	F4	Farmington Hills to Franklin, Michigan	MI	3.8 mi	117 yd	1	55
03/26/76	F4	Talihina to Red Oak, Oklahoma	OK	10.7 mi	440 yd	1	4
03/26/76	F5	Panama to Pocola, Oklahoma	OK	11.9 mi	440 yd	2	64
03/26/76	F4	New Hebron to Magee, Mississippi	MS	18.5 mi	880 yd	0	11
03/29/76	F4	Flora to Canton, Mississippi	MS	22.3 mi	880 yd	3	177
03/29/76	F4	Wesson to Marion, Mississippi	MS	127 mi	880 yd	0	8
04/17/76	F4	Kiowa to Attica, Kansas	KS	19.5 mi	100 yd	0	2
04/17/76	F4	Apache to Hinton, Oklahoma	OK	32.9 mi	440 yd	0	6
04/19/76	F5	Bangs to Early, Texas	TX	10.5 mi	440 yd	0	11
05/26/76	F4	Grandview to Milford, Texas	TX	18.8 mi	300 yd	0	0
06/13/76	F5	Madrid to Story City, Iowa	IA	21.3 mi	880 yd	0	9
06/13/76	F4	Lemont to Burr Ridge, Illinois	IL	3.3 mi	1,760 yd	2	23
06/26/76	F4	Neola to Minden, Iowa	IA	5.1 mi	200 yd	0	6
06/29/76	F4	Dunlap, Illinois	IL	4.9 mi	40 yd	0	0

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
03/29/76	F3	Sherwood to Ward, Arkansas	AR	17.2 mi	100 yd	5	64
02/17/76	F2	Oak Grove to Lake Village, Arkansas	AR	29.5 mi	200 yd	3	46
03/29/76	F4	Flora to Canton, Mississippi	MS	22.3 mi	880 yd	3	177
05/15/76	F2	Rowland to Pembroke, North Carolina	NC	10.1 mi	33 yd	3	4
03/12/76	F2	Northlake to Kenilworth, Illinois	IL	15.1 mi	150 yd	2	66
03/26/76	F5	Panama to Pocola, Oklahoma	OK	11.9 mi	440 yd	2	64
05/26/76	F3	Morgan's Point Resort, Texas	TX	2.0 mi	100 yd	2	7
05/30/76	F1	Bristow, Oklahoma	OK	0.1 mi	33 yd	2	1
06/13/76	F4	Lemont to Burr Ridge, Illinois	IL	3.3 mi	1,760 yd	2	23
02/18/76	F3	Walnut Grove to Philadelphia, Mississippi	MS	27.3 mi	200 yd	1	27
02/21/76	F3	Poplar Bluff to Puxico, Missouri	MO	23.7 mi	300 yd	1	16
03/12/76	F3	St. Anne, IL to Wheatfield, IN	IL, IN	38.5 mi	250 yd	1	15
03/12/76	F1	New Haven, Indiana	IN	0.1 mi	17 yd	1	0
03/20/76	F4	Farmington Hills to Franklin, Michigan	MI	3.8 mi	117 yd	1	55
03/20/76	F3	Utica to Memphis, Michigan	MI	17.1 mi	100 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.

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