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F3 tornado in Vernon County, Missouri

Tornado May 17, 1995 · Vernon County, Missouri

Rating

14.0 mi

Path length

400 yd

Path width

Injuries

$7.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

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

A tornado destroyed homes and buildings to the west of Nevada, then heavily damaged brick buildings within the city. The tornado weakened as it tracked east northeast towards Dederick, but was still strong enough to uproot trees and destroy outbuildings. Witnesses reported extremely heavy rain with the tornadoes passage. The 3M industrial plant on the east side of Nevada recorded an 107 mph wind with the event.

Began near Nevada (37.8300, -94.4700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10334835. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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