YearFinal SPC data

1977

852 tornadoes in 1977, with 1,083 hail and 1,722 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 236 F1 420 F2 136 F3 48 F4 11 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

1977 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19771991 to 2020 average1972 to 1982 (other years)

852 tornadoes in 1977, 31% 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	05/04/77	30	3	3	F4	IA, IN, KS, MN, MO, NE
2	06/30/77	29	0	0	F3	IL, IN, KY, MO, OH, TX
3	05/20/77	28	0	0	F3	NE, OK, SD, TX
4	05/18/77	25	1	0	F4	CO, IA, KS, ND, NE, OK, SD, TX
5	08/06/77	20	0	0	F3	IL, WI
6	04/04/77	19	1	24	F5	AL, GA, IN, KY, MO, MS, NC
7	04/19/77	18	0	0	F3	LA, NM, OK, TX
8	04/02/77	15	2	1	F4	KY, MI, MS, NY, OH, WI
9	05/05/77	14	1	0	F4	IA, IL, IN, KS, NC, OK, TX
10	05/21/77	14	0	0	F2	IN, MN, MO, NE, SD
11	07/10/77	14	0	0	F3	IA, ND, NE, SD
12	05/16/77	13	0	0	F3	IA, MO, NE, OK, SD, TX
13	05/17/77	13	0	0	F2	KS, MI, ND, TX
14	10/01/77	13	0	1	F2	IN, KY, NC, OH, TN
15	02/23/77	12	1	2	F4	AL, FL, GA, IA, MO, MS, SC

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	06/30/77	89	29	2	58	1.75 in	75 kt (86 mph)
2	05/04/77	83	30	20	33	3 in	74 kt (85 mph)
3	05/16/77	67	13	34	20	3 in	87 kt (100 mph)
4	05/30/77	61	3	24	34	3 in	62 kt (71 mph)
5	06/06/77	60	9	9	42	2.75 in	85 kt (98 mph)
6	05/20/77	59	28	12	19	2.75 in	80 kt (92 mph)
7	05/18/77	58	25	19	14	4.5 in	75 kt (86 mph)
8	05/05/77	51	14	26	11	3.5 in	80 kt (92 mph)
9	07/04/77	49	7	7	35	2 in	62 kt (71 mph)
10	07/06/77	49	7	11	31	4.5 in	70 kt (81 mph)
11	07/10/77	43	14	7	22	3.5 in	65 kt (75 mph)
12	02/23/77	41	12	1	28	1.25 in	59 kt (68 mph)
13	05/08/77	41	5	23	13	2.25 in	52 kt (60 mph)
14	07/07/77	41	6	12	23	2.75 in	52 kt (60 mph)
15	09/08/77	41	2	12	27	2.75 in	78 kt (90 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	05/18/77	4.5 in	Dickens County, TX
2	06/21/77	4.5 in	Pulaski County, MO
3	07/06/77	4.5 in	Pennington County, SD
4	07/31/77	4.5 in	Washita County, OK
5	08/26/77	4.5 in	Dickey County, ND
6	05/05/77	3.5 in	Morgan County, IL
7	06/06/77	3.5 in	Pike County, KY
8	06/14/77	3.5 in	Mercer County, ND
9	06/16/77	3.5 in	Weston County, WY
10	07/10/77	3.5 in	Clay County, NE
11	09/30/77	3.5 in	Fountain County, IN
12	12/05/77	3.5 in	Clarke County, AL
13	05/04/77	3 in	Platte County, NE
14	05/16/77	3 in	Harlan County, NE
15	05/29/77	3 in	Harvey County, KS

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	05/22/77	90 kt	104	Not given	Webb County, TX
2	05/16/77	87 kt	100	Not given	Decatur County, KS
3	06/13/77	87 kt	100	Not given	Gray County, TX
4	07/01/77	87 kt	100	Not given	Union County, NC
5	06/06/77	85 kt	98	Not given	Newport News city, VA
6	06/14/77	85 kt	98	Not given	Stark County, ND
7	05/06/77	80 kt	92	Not given	Defiance County, OH
8	05/20/77	80 kt	92	Not given	Jackson County, OK
9	06/13/77	80 kt	92	Not given	Washita County, OK
10	06/14/77	80 kt	92	Not given	Polk County, FL
11	06/23/77	80 kt	92	Not given	Hyde County, NC
12	08/04/77	80 kt	92	Not given	Geary County, KS
13	09/08/77	78 kt	90	Not given	Stutsman County, ND
14	02/23/77	75 kt	86	Not given	Sebastian County, AR
15	04/04/77	75 kt	86	Not given	Wilkinson County, MS

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
02/23/77	F4	Louisville, Mississippi	MS	15.0 mi	350 yd	2	5
04/02/77	F4	Kalamazoo to Augusta, Michigan	MI	12.4 mi	183 yd	0	10
04/02/77	F4	Bellevue to Eaton Rapids, Michigan	MI	16.6 mi	613 yd	1	44
04/04/77	F5	Fairfield to Center Point, Alabama	AL	14.7 mi	550 yd	22	130
05/04/77	F4	Liberty, Missouri	MO	12.0 mi	400 yd	0	5
05/04/77	F4	Richmond to Brunswick, Missouri	MO	48.6 mi	880 yd	0	1
05/04/77	F4	Fort Dodge, Iowa	IA	2.0 mi	70 yd	0	14
05/05/77	F4	Atlanta to McLean, Illinois	IL	7.3 mi	1,000 yd	0	2
05/18/77	F4	Boise City, OK to Elkhart, KS	OK, CO	38.6 mi	440 yd	0	0
07/07/77	F4	Pender to Onawa, Nebraska	NE	22.6 mi	77 yd	0	0
07/30/77	F4	Bloomer to Cornell, Wisconsin	WI	19.0 mi	300 yd	0	20
08/31/77	F4	Stratford to Weston, Wisconsin	WI	31.8 mi	1,000 yd	0	10

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
04/04/77	F5	Fairfield to Center Point, Alabama	AL	14.7 mi	550 yd	22	130
08/21/77	F3	Windsor to Greenup, Illinois	IL	26.9 mi	77 yd	6	56
02/23/77	F4	Louisville, Mississippi	MS	15.0 mi	350 yd	2	5
05/04/77	F3	Drexel, Missouri	MO	29.8 mi	500 yd	2	15
04/02/77	F4	Bellevue to Eaton Rapids, Michigan	MI	16.6 mi	613 yd	1	44
04/04/77	F3	Ashville to Steele, Alabama	AL	7.3 mi	150 yd	1	0
04/04/77	F3	Rome, Georgia	GA	8.8 mi	400 yd	1	15
04/21/77	F3	Breaux Bridge, Louisiana	LA	3.8 mi	440 yd	1	11
05/04/77	F3	Odessa to Waverly, Missouri	MO	26.2 mi	100 yd	1	5
05/15/77	F3	Velma, Oklahoma	OK	0.8 mi	180 yd	1	2
07/30/77	F2	Cornell to Ladysmith, Wisconsin	WI	34.5 mi	1,000 yd	1	8
09/14/77	F2	Hoxie, Arkansas	AR	2.0 mi	50 yd	1	3
10/01/77	F1	Georgetown, Indiana	IN	0.5 mi	40 yd	1	1
12/05/77	F2	Palatka to Flagler Estates, Florida	FL	9.4 mi	40 yd	1	10
12/13/77	F3	Jacinto City to Dayton, Texas	TX	25.1 mi	400 yd	1	40

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