F4 tornado — Greene County, Ohio

F4 tornado in Greene County, Ohio

Tornado September 20, 2000 · Greene County, Ohio

Rating

9.0 mi

Path length

500 yd

Path width

Death

100

Injuries

$15.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F4 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F4 meant devastating damage: well-built houses levelled; the scale paired it with winds of 207–260 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 violent tornado that moved at 65 mph hit the town of Xenia for the second time in 26 years damaging some of the same areas that were hit in 1974. Along the path of the tornado, around 250 homes were either damaged or destroyed, over 40 businesses were damaged or destroyed including the local Wal Mart, Kroger, and Tire Discounters, and 6 churches were damaged. A strip mall was nearly destroyed, cars were thrown from the Highway 35 bypass into ditches, 4 semi-trailers were thrown up to 400 yards, and most of the buildings were damaged or destroyed at the Greene county fairgrounds. In Sugarcreek Township, which is to the southwest of Xenia, an additional 14 houses and 3 barns were damaged and some crops were destroyed on a narrow path. Over 10,000 residents were without power for at least 1 day.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5175230. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F4 tornado in Greene County, Ohio

What the National Weather Service wrote

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address