44
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
1
Direct injuries
$1.4M
Property damage
Tornado in Steele County, North Dakota: 44 recorded events between 1958 and 2022. The strongest on record measured F3. That places the county #513 nationally and #13 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Steele County, North Dakota: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Steele County is the 1980s, when 12 of the county's 44 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Steele County archive, tornado makes up 12.2% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #513 for this hazard and #13 within North Dakota, putting it in the 82.4 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for tornado in Steele County with 20 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971-06-21 | EF3 | 13.7 mi | 500 yd | Touched down here |
| 2021-08-09 | EF2 | 2.9 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 2010-06-17 | EF2 | 3.0 mi | 75 yd | Touched down here |
| 2010-06-17 | EF2 | 7.0 mi | 75 yd | Touched down here |
| 1976-06-12 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 1971-06-21 | EF2 | 12.7 mi | 77 yd | Crossed in |
| 2020-06-08 | EF1 | 7.0 mi | 250 yd | Touched down here |
| 2015-06-27 | EF1 | 3.2 mi | 800 yd | Touched down here |
| 2015-06-27 | EF1 | 3.5 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 2010-06-17 | EF1 | 7.0 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 21, 1971 | F3 | 0 | 1 | $250K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2022 | FINLEY ARPT | EF0 | $0 |
| Aug 10, 2021 | SHARON | EF2 | $150K |
| Jun 8, 2020 | SHARON | EF1 | $10K |
| Jun 8, 2020 | SHARON | EF0 | $0 |
| May 24, 2019 | HOPE | EF0 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2017 | SHERBROOKE | EF0 | $0 |
| Jun 27, 2015 | COLGATE | EF1 | $0 |
| Jun 27, 2015 | SHERBROOKE | EF1 | $0 |
| Jun 27, 2015 | FINLEY | EF0 | $0 |
| Jun 14, 2011 | BLABON | EF0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Steele County
- Hail 175
- Thunderstorm Wind 107
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
The tornado tore the roof off a barn and impaled a tree branch in the wooden door of a granary. Many trees were damaged and a high voltage power tower was knocked over. The tornado tracked mainly along the Goose River (about 4 miles west of Hatton) to about 4 miles south-southwest of Hatton.
This tornado tracked from far northeast Sharon Township across far northwest Westfield Township. A tornado Debris Signature was evident on KMVX radar. The tornado completely dismantled and destroyed a barn at one farmstead. It also snapped or uprooted numerous spruce, ash, cottonwood, and willow trees at various locations along its path.
A woman taped several minutes of a multiple vortex tornado that passed south of her farm. As the tornado went out of view of the video, she and her two children took cover in their mobile home. At the end of the tape, as the tornado moved out of view, the video showed a microburst to the west of the farm. This is what did most of the damage. After the microburst, she looked up and saw blue sky. She and the children were in the limbs of a tree with mobile home debris covering her legs. They were treated for scratches and bruises. The woman and one child were kept overnight at the hospital for observation. Some of the damage included destruction of the mobile home and other farm buildings as well as farm machinery and trees. The path and length of the tornado were estimated.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Steele County, North Dakota?
44 tornado events are recorded in Steele County between 1958 and 2022, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Steele County?
The strongest tornado on record in Steele County measured F3.
Where does the tornado data for Steele County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Steele County, North Dakota.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/north-dakota/steele-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.