F1 tornado in Shelby and Crawford County, Iowa

Tornado October 6, 1994 · Shelby and Crawford County, Iowa

Rating

2.0 mi

Path length

30 yd

Path width

$500

Damage as recorded

$3K

Crop damage

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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).

Began near Manilla To (41.8500, -95.2500).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10324171. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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