YearFinal SPC data

2016

976 tornadoes in 2016, with 9,404 hail and 15,649 wind reports, from the NOAA SPC severe weather database.

Tornado recordHail + windDaily reports (soon)Storm Events narrativesEF ScaleMax path width

Tornado deaths

EF0 530 EF1 310 EF2 77 EF3 26 EF4 2 EFU 31

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

2016 against the years around it and the 1991 to 2020 average

20161991 to 2020 average2011 to 2021 (other years)

976 tornadoes in 2016, 21% 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	05/24/16	45	0	0	EF3	CO, KS, MI, NE, OK, TX
2	04/26/16	43	0	1	EF1	AR, IN, KS, MO, OK, TX
3	02/23/16	41	0	3	EF3	AL, FL, GA, LA, MS
4	11/29/16	29	0	6	EF3	AL, GA, MS, TN
5	05/09/16	28	1	2	EF4	AR, IA, IL, KS, MT, NE, OK, TX
6	05/22/16	25	0	0	EF3	KS, ND, SD, TX
7	02/24/16	23	0	4	EF3	FL, MD, NC, PA, SC, VA
8	04/27/16	23	0	0	EF1	CA, IA, IL, KY, MO, NE
9	06/22/16	23	0	0	EF2	IL, IN, OH, WV
10	08/24/16	22	0	0	EF3	IN, OH
11	03/31/16	20	0	0	EF2	AL, GA, IN, KY, MS, TN
12	02/15/16	19	0	0	EF3	AL, FL, LA, MS
13	04/29/16	19	0	0	EF2	AR, MS, OK, TX
14	04/06/16	15	0	0	EF2	AL, FL, GA
15	05/26/16	15	0	0	EF2	CO, KS, MO, TX

Busiest severe weather days

tornado, hail and wind reports together

#	Day	All reports	Tornadoes	Hail	Wind	Largest hail	Top gust
1	04/26/16	677	43	322	312	5 in	88 kt (101 mph)
2	06/17/16	609	0	129	480	1.75 in	91 kt (105 mph)
3	07/08/16	585	3	112	470	3 in	78 kt (90 mph)
4	07/06/16	569	12	54	503	3 in	100 kt (115 mph)
5	07/13/16	477	1	68	408	2.17 in	87 kt (100 mph)
6	07/14/16	461	1	87	373	2.5 in	85 kt (98 mph)
7	06/16/16	424	3	87	334	3.25 in	78 kt (90 mph)
8	05/26/16	416	15	257	144	4 in	83 kt (96 mph)
9	02/24/16	399	23	34	342	3 in	87 kt (100 mph)
10	06/15/16	398	1	87	310	2.75 in	70 kt (81 mph)
11	07/05/16	353	10	75	268	3 in	78 kt (90 mph)
12	07/07/16	353	9	83	261	4.25 in	87 kt (100 mph)
13	07/18/16	350	2	57	291	3 in	78 kt (90 mph)
14	05/10/16	308	12	176	120	2.75 in	83 kt (96 mph)
15	07/19/16	302	6	72	224	4 in	83 kt (96 mph)

Largest hail

top 15

#	Date	Size	Place
1	04/11/16	5.25 in	Collin County, TX
2	04/26/16	5 in	Marshall County, KS
3	05/09/16	5 in	Lancaster County, NE
4	05/22/16	5 in	Garza County, TX
5	05/24/16	5 in	Ford County, KS
6	04/12/16	4.5 in	Bexar County, TX
7	05/11/16	4.5 in	Adams County, IL
8	05/28/16	4.5 in	Medina County, TX
9	04/11/16	4.25 in	Collin County, TX
10	05/21/16	4.25 in	Logan County, KS
11	07/07/16	4.25 in	Cheyenne County, KS
12	03/08/16	4 in	McCulloch County, TX
13	04/11/16	4 in	Denton County, TX
14	04/11/16	4 in	Rockwall County, TX
15	04/12/16	4 in	Bexar County, TX

Strongest wind gusts

top 15, measured first on ties

#	Date	Gust	mph	Type	Place
1	06/24/16	109 kt	125	Estimated	McCone County, MT
2	06/09/16	104 kt	120	Estimated	McCone County, MT
3	07/15/16	102 kt	117	Measured	Meade County, KS
4	06/10/16	101 kt	116	Measured	Fergus County, MT
5	07/06/16	100 kt	115	Measured	Meade County, SD
6	09/07/16	100 kt	115	Estimated	Ransom County, ND
7	09/07/16	100 kt	115	Estimated	Ransom County, ND
8	07/06/16	99 kt	114	Estimated	Meade County, SD
9	05/24/16	96 kt	110	Estimated	Yuma County, CO
10	05/24/16	96 kt	110	Estimated	Yuma County, CO
11	07/15/16	96 kt	110	Estimated	Meade County, KS
12	09/05/16	96 kt	110	Estimated	Bon Homme County, SD
13	10/06/16	93 kt	107	Estimated	Scott County, IA
14	05/22/16	91 kt	105	Estimated	Polk County, MN
15	06/17/16	91 kt	105	Estimated	Columbia County, GA

F4/EF4 and stronger

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
05/09/16	EF4	Elmore City to Wynnewood, Oklahoma	OK	8.9 mi	400 yd	1	0
05/25/16	EF4	Solomon to Chapman, Kansas	KS	25.1 mi	900 yd	0	8

Deadliest tornadoes

Date	Rating	Tornado	State	Length	Width	Deaths	Injuries
11/30/16	EF3	Pisgah to Trenton, Alabama	AL	13.5 mi	206 yd	4	9
02/24/16	EF1	Waverly, Virginia	VA	8.9 mi	300 yd	3	8
01/17/16	EF2	Palmetto to Bowling Green, Florida	FL	9.2 mi	300 yd	2	4
02/23/16	EF2	Donaldsonville to Lutcher, Louisiana	LA	13.0 mi	350 yd	2	75
11/30/16	EF3	Benton, Tennessee	TN	4.6 mi	155 yd	2	0
02/23/16	EF2	Purvis, Mississippi	MS	5.6 mi	100 yd	1	0
02/24/16	EF3	Appomattox, Virginia	VA	16.9 mi	400 yd	1	7
04/27/16	EF0	Tomball, Texas	TX	0.4 mi	40 yd	1	0
05/09/16	EF4	Elmore City to Wynnewood, Oklahoma	OK	8.9 mi	400 yd	1	0
05/09/16	EF3	Tishomingo to Coalgate, Oklahoma	OK	9.1 mi	700 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