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F5 tornado in McPherson County, Kansas

Tornado March 13, 1990 · McPherson County, Kansas

Rating

48.0 mi

Whole path

1,320 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$75.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Reno County → Harvey County → McPherson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,320 yards (0.75 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F5 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F5 meant incredible damage: strong frame houses swept off their foundations, concrete structures critically damaged; the scale paired it with winds of 261–318 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

NOAA’s online database has no written narrative for tornadoes before 1996 — just the numbers above, transcribed from the original storm logs. Written accounts from this era do exist in NOAA’s monthly Storm Data publications (scanned, back to 1959).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10037684. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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