YearFinal SPC data

1981

782 tornadoes in 1981, with 1,494 hail and 2,193 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 283 F1 320 F2 149 F3 23 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

1981 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19811991 to 2020 average1976 to 1986 (other years)

782 tornadoes in 1981, 36% 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	06/21/81	35	0	1	F3	FL, IL, MN, MO, NJ, OH, PA, SD, WV
2	06/13/81	29	0	4	F3	CO, FL, IA, IN, MN, NE, OH, TX, WI
3	05/23/81	28	0	0	F3	IA, KS, MO, OK
4	05/17/81	20	1	0	F4	FL, KS, OK, TX
5	05/09/81	18	0	0	F3	LA, TN, TX
6	04/03/81	17	2	3	F4	AR, IA, IL, KS, NE, OK, WI
7	06/23/81	16	0	0	F2	IA, LA, MN, NM, SD, WI
8	05/22/81	15	1	0	F4	KS, MN, OK
9	04/13/81	15	0	0	F2	IL, IN, KS, MO, OH
10	06/03/81	15	0	0	F2	CO, KS, LA, OK, TX
11	06/08/81	15	0	0	F2	IL, IN, OH
12	10/13/81	15	0	0	F3	OK, TX
13	05/13/81	13	1	0	F4	AR, OK, TX
14	05/07/81	12	0	0	F2	FL, TX
15	06/20/81	12	0	1	F2	FL, IL, KS, MI, MO, NE

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	04/03/81	205	17	40	148	2.5 in	82 kt (94 mph)
2	06/13/81	135	29	55	51	4.5 in	96 kt (110 mph)
3	07/20/81	133	10	14	109	1.75 in	72 kt (83 mph)
4	04/13/81	119	15	54	50	4.5 in	65 kt (75 mph)
5	06/21/81	102	35	14	53	2.75 in	61 kt (70 mph)
6	06/23/81	96	16	26	54	2.5 in	86 kt (99 mph)
7	05/18/81	93	9	52	32	2.75 in	61 kt (70 mph)
8	04/28/81	81	3	30	48	2 in	67 kt (77 mph)
9	05/23/81	76	28	25	23	2.75 in	61 kt (70 mph)
10	05/09/81	70	18	32	20	1.75 in	69 kt (79 mph)
11	05/13/81	64	13	26	25	3 in	60 kt (69 mph)
12	05/08/81	60	5	37	18	3 in	83 kt (96 mph)
13	07/10/81	60	5	8	47	1.75 in	56 kt (64 mph)
14	07/21/81	60	5	31	24	2.75 in	65 kt (75 mph)
15	06/06/81	57	7	10	40	2 in	64 kt (74 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	04/12/81	5 in	Kiowa County, OK
2	04/10/81	4.5 in	Floyd County, TX
3	04/13/81	4.5 in	Pike County, MO
4	05/07/81	4.5 in	Stevens County, KS
5	05/13/81	4.5 in	Newton County, AR
6	05/15/81	4.5 in	Concho County, TX
7	06/01/81	4.5 in	Oklahoma County, OK
8	06/01/81	4.5 in	Blaine County, OK
9	06/01/81	4.5 in	Kingfisher County, OK
10	06/01/81	4.5 in	Logan County, OK
11	06/13/81	4.5 in	Clay County, SD
12	06/13/81	4.5 in	Knox County, NE
13	06/27/81	4.5 in	Emmons County, ND
14	08/03/81	4.5 in	Turner County, SD
15	04/12/81	4 in	Jefferson County, MO

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	04/23/81	104 kt	120	Not given	Waller County, TX
2	08/09/81	100 kt	115	Not given	Douglas County, CO
3	06/14/81	96 kt	110	Not given	Rice County, MN
4	08/06/81	90 kt	104	Not given	Red Willow County, NE
5	08/06/81	90 kt	104	Not given	Furnas County, NE
6	08/06/81	90 kt	104	Not given	Harlan County, NE
7	05/01/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Pinal County, AZ
8	05/01/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Gila County, AZ
9	05/28/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Payne County, OK
10	05/28/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Pawnee County, OK
11	06/10/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Oldham County, KY
12	06/14/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Dakota County, MN
13	06/28/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Platte County, NE
14	07/02/81	87 kt	100	Not given	Monroe County, NY
15	07/12/81	87 kt	100	Not given	County 053, MT

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
03/29/81	F4	Prophetstown to Morrison, Illinois	IL	5.1 mi	33 yd	0	0
04/03/81	F4	Granite City to Edwardsville, Illinois	IL	11.9 mi	567 yd	0	32
04/04/81	F4	West Bend, Wisconsin	WI	1.8 mi	100 yd	3	53
04/22/81	F4	Qulin to Charleston, Missouri	MO	63.0 mi	400 yd	1	32
05/13/81	F4	Paris, Texas	TX	8.8 mi	400 yd	0	30
05/17/81	F4	Seminole to Okmulgee, Oklahoma	OK	33.6 mi	600 yd	0	2
05/22/81	F4	Hinton to El Reno, Oklahoma	OK	16.7 mi	1,333 yd	0	0

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
04/19/81	F3	Glenpool to Bixby, Oklahoma	OK	9.9 mi	880 yd	5	49
06/13/81	F3	Cardington to Mount Gilead, Ohio	OH	3.8 mi	350 yd	4	56
04/04/81	F4	West Bend, Wisconsin	WI	1.8 mi	100 yd	3	53
04/01/81	F3	Midway, Alabama	AL	0.1 mi	100 yd	2	23
02/10/81	F2	Huntsville to Point Blank, Texas	TX	19.9 mi	100 yd	1	8
02/11/81	F2	Parkton to Fayetteville, North Carolina	NC	12.4 mi	847 yd	1	0
03/30/81	F2	Murfreesboro, NC to Suffolk, VA	NC, VA	21.9 mi	83 yd	1	1
04/22/81	F4	Qulin to Charleston, Missouri	MO	63.0 mi	400 yd	1	32
04/22/81	F3	Olympian Village to Crystal City, Missouri	MO	7.1 mi	100 yd	1	0
04/30/81	F2	Minco to Alex, Oklahoma	OK	29.1 mi	10 yd	1	4
06/14/81	F3	Bloomington to Maplewood, Minnesota	MN	16.2 mi	600 yd	1	83
06/19/81	F3	Lawrence to Eudora, Kansas	KS	7.7 mi	200 yd	1	33
06/21/81	F2	Warrenton to Wright City, Missouri	MO	6.5 mi	300 yd	1	6
06/21/81	F3	Industry to Astoria, Illinois	IL	8.8 mi	880 yd	1	12

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