SPC Stats

Path length: 26.4 miles

Width:  280 yards

Fatalities:  2

Injuries:  4

Rating:  F3

County:  McIntosh, ND / McPherson, SD

Eight tornadoes were recorded on July 31, 1966, across the Dakotas.  The strongest was later rated F3.  It tracked from south of Ashley, ND, and into North Dakota, north of Long Lake.  It was in the Long Lake area that a car carrying Mr. and Mrs. Leo Fischer and their 3 children was carried down a county road.  Per a newspaper article in the Argus-Leader, Sioux Falls, “all but one child were thrown from the car.” Mr. Fischer was found dead at the scene.  His wife died later in the hospital due to injuries caused by the crash.

Five farms near Ashley were destroyed, and per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, one had near-F4 damage.  Per the Argus-Leader article, “A section of Highway 101 south of Long Lake was ‘rolled up like a rug.'”

Storm Data Entry

The Storm Data entry is separated in two parts by state.  The North Dakota portion is a part of a larger entry describing a “widespread violent storms which covered much of 17 North Dakota Counties…”.  7 tornadoes were produced.  In the midst of this blurb, the McIntosh County portion of this event was mentioned.  That part states:  “A tornado south of Ashley caused damage on five farms and one death and 3 injuries after it moved southward into South Dakota.”

Here is the South Dakota entry.  The location is “Long Lake and vicinity:  Four funnels were sighted.  The tornado picked up a car with family of five causing fatal injuries to the two adults and injuries to the three children.  Apparently the driver sighted a funnel in front of him and turned right to avoid it but drove into another funnel.  Storm moved from NW to SE.

Tornado Path

Click Map To Enlarge

SPC coordinates:  Start: 46.00 / -99.47   End:  45.72 / -99.08      

Note:  Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.

Newspaper Clippings

Discrepancies:

We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the July 1966 Storm Data Publication and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:

Path Length:

  • SPC/NCDC have a 26.4 mile path length.
  • Storm Data does not have a length listed.
  • Grazulis has a 10 miles path.

Width:

  • SPC/NCDC have a width of 280 yards.
  • Storm Data has a width of 1/4 miles (440 yards).
  • Grazulis lists a width of 300 yards.

      Sources:

      The Storm Prediction Center

      NCDC Storm Events Database

      July 1966 Storm Data Publication

      newspapers.com

      Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1083.

      Questions or comments about this summary?  Contact us here!

      Join the tornado history discussion on our Discord Server!

      Note:  There are some images/videos in our summaries that were licensed to us to be used only on this website. If you would like to use an image/video in your project or blog, please contact us and we will grant permission if possible.

      Newspaper clips are embedded via newspapers.com. Please see their terms and conditions.

      ————————————————

      Would you like to see more summaries like this one?  Support Tornado Talk on Patreon! Become a Patron!


      1 Comment

      Weather History: July 31st – Weather History · July 7, 2021 at 3:49 pm

      […] dollars. An estimated 90 mph wind gust was also reported northeast of Aberdeen. Click HERE for more information from […]

      Leave a Reply

      Avatar placeholder

      You cannot copy content of this page