F3 tornado in Decatur and Clarke County, Iowa

Tornado May 27, 1995 · Decatur and Clarke County, Iowa

Rating

30.5 mi

Path length

150 yd

Path width

$200K

Damage as recorded

$12K

Crop damage

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 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.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Border crosser from Missouri at beginning point.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10321695. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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