YearFinal SPC data

1996

1,173 tornadoes in 1996, with 9,529 hail and 9,131 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reportsStorm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

F0 743 F1 313 F2 94 F3 20 F4 2 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

1996 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

19961991 to 2020 average1991 to 2001 (other years)

1,173 tornadoes in 1996, 5% 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	Deaths	Strongest	States
1	04/19/96	74	1	F3	IA, IL, IN, KY, MO, TN, TX
2	04/21/96	33	4	F3	AR, MO, OK, TX
3	05/30/96	27	0	F3	CO, ND, NE, NM, SD, TX
4	10/26/96	26	0	F2	MN, NE, SD
5	05/31/96	24	0	F3	CO, KS, MN, OK, SD, TX
6	09/16/96	23	0	F2	AL, GA, NC, SC, TN, TX
7	10/07/96	22	0	F2	FL, NC, SC
8	03/18/96	21	0	F3	AL, MS
9	05/08/96	21	0	F2	IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MO, NE, OH
10	05/25/96	20	0	F2	AZ, FL, IL, MO, NM, OK, TX
11	05/26/96	20	0	F3	IN, KS, MO, OK
12	07/19/96	20	0	F3	KS, MD, MO, PA, VA, WV
13	07/12/96	19	0	F1	CO, MD, NC, NM, VA
14	07/23/96	19	0	F1	CO, KS, TX
15	11/07/96	19	1	F2	AL, GA, KY, LA, MS, TN, TX

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	04/19/96	529	74	263	192	4.5 in	90 kt (104 mph)
2	04/21/96	439	33	337	69	4.5 in	63 kt (72 mph)
3	05/24/96	393	9	240	144	4.75 in	65 kt (75 mph)
4	05/26/96	305	20	160	125	5.5 in	103 kt (119 mph)
5	06/24/96	301	9	87	205	2.75 in	80 kt (92 mph)
6	06/05/96	280	17	184	79	3 in	75 kt (86 mph)
7	07/07/96	273	10	112	151	4 in	95 kt (109 mph)
8	03/24/96	257	5	129	123	2.5 in	78 kt (90 mph)
9	05/27/96	251	11	59	181	4.5 in	70 kt (81 mph)
10	05/05/96	247	6	132	109	3 in	79 kt (91 mph)
11	05/09/96	241	18	170	53	4.5 in	90 kt (104 mph)
12	04/20/96	237	7	136	94	2.75 in	80 kt (92 mph)
13	05/31/96	229	24	142	63	2.75 in	70 kt (81 mph)
14	06/03/96	222	8	142	72	2.5 in	69 kt (79 mph)
15	04/12/96	221	6	162	53	2.75 in	80 kt (92 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	05/26/96	5.5 in	Gray County, KS
2	05/10/96	5 in	Howard County, TX
3	06/11/96	5 in	Kiowa County, KS
4	07/23/96	5 in	Kiowa County, KS
5	05/24/96	4.75 in	Randall County, TX
6	05/24/96	4.75 in	Randall County, TX
7	03/06/96	4.5 in	Jones County, MS
8	03/30/96	4.5 in	Polk County, FL
9	04/14/96	4.5 in	Rankin County, MS
10	04/19/96	4.5 in	Bell County, TX
11	04/21/96	4.5 in	Jones County, TX
12	04/21/96	4.5 in	Newton County, MO
13	04/21/96	4.5 in	Cooke County, TX
14	04/21/96	4.5 in	Grayson County, TX
15	04/21/96	4.5 in	Grayson County, TX

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	09/11/96	175 kt	201	Not given	Charlevoix County, MI
2	09/12/96	175 kt	201	Not given	Taylor County, KY
3	06/30/96	150 kt	173	Not given	Pennington County, SD
4	05/16/96	111 kt	128	Not given	Grant County, ND
5	08/02/96	110 kt	127	Not given	Pratt County, KS
6	05/26/96	103 kt	119	Not given	Jackson County, MO
7	06/14/96	100 kt	115	Not given	Dallas County, TX
8	07/04/96	100 kt	115	Not given	Yavapai County, AZ
9	08/02/96	100 kt	115	Not given	Pawnee County, KS
10	08/14/96	100 kt	115	Not given	Gove County, KS
11	08/14/96	100 kt	115	Not given	Maricopa County, AZ
12	11/07/96	100 kt	115	Not given	Rusk County, TX
13	06/01/96	97 kt	112	Not given	Dallas County, TX
14	04/28/96	95 kt	109	Not given	Sumner County, KS
15	06/11/96	95 kt	109	Not given	Kiowa County, KS

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
04/14/96	F4	Mountain View to Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas	AR	44.0 mi	880 yd	7	35
05/28/96	F4	Lynnview to Taylorsville, Kentucky	KY	30.0 mi	850 yd	0	10
07/18/96	F5	Oakfield to Eden, Wisconsin	WI	13.3 mi	400 yd	0	12

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
04/14/96	F4	Mountain View to Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas	AR	44.0 mi	880 yd	7	35
03/06/96	F3	Selma to Valley Grande, Alabama	AL	19.0 mi	400 yd	4	40
03/06/96	F2	Pike Road to Emerald Mountain, Alabama	AL	4.0 mi	200 yd	2	17
04/21/96	F3	Arkoma, OK to Alma, AR	AR, OK	10.1 mi	1,050 yd	2	89
04/22/96	F3	Ozark to Huntsville, Arkansas	AR	15.0 mi	1,050 yd	2	6
11/30/96	F2	Simsboro to Vienna, Louisiana	LA	10.0 mi	250 yd	2	9
01/26/96	F1	Citronelle, Alabama	AL	2.0 mi	500 yd	1	3
02/02/96	F0	Palatka to World Golf Village, Florida	FL	6.5 mi	10 yd	1	0
04/19/96	F3	Ogden, Illinois	IL	2.0 mi	1,500 yd	1	13
05/12/96	F0	Okeechobee, Florida	FL	0.1 mi	20 yd	1	0
07/18/96	F2	Chilton to New Holstein, Wisconsin	WI	6.4 mi	200 yd	1	1
11/08/96	F2	Chester, Georgia	GA	4.0 mi	50 yd	1	6
12/07/96	F2	Palm River-Clair Mel, Florida	FL	2.0 mi	83 yd	1	0

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