YearFinal SPC data

1988

702 tornadoes in 1988, with 2,537 hail and 3,947 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 283 F1 311 F2 81 F3 24 F4 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

1988 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19881991 to 2020 average1983 to 1993 (other years)

702 tornadoes in 1988, 43% 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	05/08/88	57	0	0	F3	AR, IA, IL, WI
2	11/15/88	44	0	7	F3	AR, IA, IL, KS, MO, OK, TX
3	09/16/88	24	0	1	F2	AL, LA, MN, MS, TX
4	09/17/88	24	0	0	F2	OK, TX
5	11/19/88	21	0	2	F3	AL, LA, MS, TN, TX
6	11/04/88	19	0	1	F3	AL, FL, MS, TN
7	01/19/88	14	1	5	F4	AL, AR, MS, TN
8	07/05/88	14	0	0	F3	MT, ND
9	05/30/88	13	0	0	F2	CO, NE, NM, OK, TX
10	08/16/88	12	0	0	F1	CO, MI, ND
11	12/27/88	12	0	0	F2	MS
12	03/24/88	11	0	0	F2	AR, IA, IN, KS, MO, OK
13	07/08/88	11	0	0	F1	CO, NE, WY
14	07/15/88	10	0	0	F3	FL, IA, KS, MI
15	04/01/88	9	0	0	F3	LA, TX

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	11/15/88	339	44	111	184	3.5 in	70 kt (81 mph)
2	05/08/88	293	57	82	154	2.75 in	75 kt (86 mph)
3	07/16/88	146	6	13	127	1.75 in	74 kt (85 mph)
4	04/05/88	131	3	71	57	2.75 in	87 kt (100 mph)
5	05/24/88	129	3	67	59	3 in	77 kt (89 mph)
6	06/02/88	129	3	93	33	4.5 in	78 kt (90 mph)
7	03/24/88	122	11	74	37	2 in	61 kt (70 mph)
8	05/09/88	112	2	56	54	3.5 in	62 kt (71 mph)
9	11/19/88	109	21	36	52	2.75 in	61 kt (70 mph)
10	07/14/88	103	6	13	84	1.75 in	65 kt (75 mph)
11	06/26/88	100	5	20	75	2.25 in	100 kt (115 mph)
12	07/30/88	93	0	13	80	1.75 in	76 kt (87 mph)
13	05/16/88	92	2	56	34	1.75 in	66 kt (76 mph)
14	11/04/88	92	19	51	22	2.75 in	55 kt (63 mph)
15	07/17/88	90	6	11	73	2.5 in	70 kt (81 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	04/25/88	4.5 in	Fayette County, GA
2	06/02/88	4.5 in	Jones County, TX
3	06/19/88	4.5 in	St. Croix County, WI
4	07/12/88	4.5 in	Dickey County, ND
5	09/23/88	4.5 in	Haskell County, OK
6	10/25/88	4.5 in	Young County, TX
7	10/26/88	4.5 in	Jack County, TX
8	11/25/88	4.5 in	Wood County, TX
9	11/25/88	4.5 in	Rains County, TX
10	09/27/88	4 in	Harlan County, NE
11	05/09/88	3.5 in	Limestone County, TX
12	05/09/88	3.5 in	Freestone County, TX
13	06/09/88	3.5 in	Craven County, NC
14	11/15/88	3.5 in	Grayson County, TX
15	11/25/88	3.5 in	Van Zandt County, TX

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	06/26/88	100 kt	115	Not given	Accomack County, VA
2	06/22/88	91 kt	105	Not given	Door County, WI
3	06/23/88	90 kt	104	Not given	Prince Edward County, VA
4	06/26/88	89 kt	102	Not given	St. Mary's County, MD
5	07/07/88	89 kt	102	Not given	Deaf Smith County, TX
6	04/06/88	87 kt	100	Not given	Ottawa County, MI
7	05/23/88	87 kt	100	Not given	Kanawha County, WV
8	08/15/88	87 kt	100	Not given	Cass County, IN
9	06/25/88	85 kt	98	Not given	Gooding County, ID
10	07/06/88	85 kt	98	Not given	Carter County, MT
11	08/17/88	82 kt	94	Not given	Philadelphia County, PA
12	04/07/88	80 kt	92	Not given	Fremont County, WY
13	06/20/88	80 kt	92	Not given	Lyon County, NV
14	06/29/88	80 kt	92	Not given	Warren County, IA
15	07/05/88	80 kt	92	Not given	Valley County, MT

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
01/19/88	F4	Kosciusko to Weir, Mississippi	MS	13.0 mi	700 yd	0	1
11/28/88	F4	Morrisville to Seaboard, North Carolina	NC	83.0 mi	400 yd	4	154
12/24/88	F4	Franklin to Brentwood, Tennessee	TN	6.0 mi	150 yd	1	7

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
11/15/88	F2	Shannon Hills to McRae, Arkansas	AR	49.0 mi	250 yd	5	60
04/19/88	F3	Madison to Jennings, Florida	FL	12.0 mi	300 yd	4	18
11/28/88	F4	Morrisville to Seaboard, North Carolina	NC	83.0 mi	400 yd	4	154
01/19/88	F3	Moscow to New Johnsonville, Tennessee	TN	22.0 mi	200 yd	3	24
05/07/88	F2	Mead to La Vista, Nebraska	NE	16.2 mi	73 yd	2	1
11/19/88	F3	Shannon to Plantersville, Mississippi	MS	12.5 mi	120 yd	2	11
01/19/88	F2	Brownsville to Bells, Tennessee	TN	3.0 mi	60 yd	1	6
01/19/88	F2	Humboldt to Medina, Tennessee	TN	4.0 mi	60 yd	1	0
03/28/88	F1	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	OK	0.8 mi	33 yd	1	1
05/09/88	F3	Middlesborough to Harrogate, Kentucky	KY	5.0 mi	500 yd	1	15
08/14/88	F2	East Lansing to Stockbridge, Michigan	MI	26.6 mi	127 yd	1	0
08/28/88	F2	Manning, South Carolina	SC	0.8 mi	200 yd	1	1
08/28/88	F1	Dundee to Trumansburg, New York	NY	13.0 mi	880 yd	1	1
09/17/88	F1	Elmendorf to China Grove, Texas	TX	4.0 mi	30 yd	1	1
11/05/88	F2	Lee, Florida	FL	8.0 mi	50 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