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F3 tornado in Lincoln County, Nebraska

Tornado May 17, 2000 · Lincoln County, Nebraska

F3
Rating
11.5 mi
Path length
1,000 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$750K
Damage as recorded
$25K
Crop damage
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,000 yards (0.57 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

The same supercell thunderstorm that had earlier produced the twin tornadoes 20 miles south of Brady produced a large tornado that touched down 6 miles south of Brady and moved toward the northwest lifting 4 miles south of Maxwell. Two women were injured when their home blew down around them. The tornado destroyed three homes and heavily damaged three others. Numerous outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. Four center pivot irrigation systems were destroyed and extensive damage was done to agricultural equipment. Over 75 power and telephone poles were destroyed along with miles of wire. The tornado reached it's maximum intensity of F3 shortly after touchdown when it heavily damaged a brick home and completely destroyed a large steel building. Later in it's path, the tornado leveled a frame home and blew several vehicles over and around the home. The path of the tornado was clearly visible where crops had been stripped from the ground. This tornado received extensive national coverage because of great video taken from chasers.

Began near Brady (40.9500, -100.3667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5143985. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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