On what date was the famous Howard, South Dakota tornado photograph taken?

The famous Howard, South Dakota tornado photograph was taken on August 28, 1884.

Photographer F. N. Robinson captured the image near Howard, then in Dakota Territory, during a major outbreak of severe storms across southeastern South Dakota. Contemporary descriptions place the tornado west of Howard, where it remained visible for more than two hours while moving generally southeastward. The storm caused deaths and extensive destruction to homes, farms, livestock, and other property.

The date is sometimes confused with April 26, 1884, because a different tornado photograph associated with A. A. Adams was taken near Westphalia, Kansas, several months earlier. That earlier image complicates claims that Robinson’s photograph was the first ever made, but it does not change the date of the famous Howard photograph.

The event is now generally discussed as the tornado outbreak of August 28, 1884. Historical estimates place the Howard tornado in the violent F-scale range, although modern ratings are necessarily retrospective because the Enhanced Fujita scale did not yet exist.