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F3 tornado in Desha County, Arkansas

Tornado February 24, 2001 · Desha County, Arkansas

F3
Rating
42.0 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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 strong tornado was spawned in western Desha County about 1 mile south-southwest of Reed. The tornado moved quickly northeast, and destroyed a mobile home. Roofs were damaged at several homes. In addition, the tornado rolled a 500 gallon butane tank, damaged or destroyed metal barns and sheds and knocked hundreds of trees down near the Arkansas River levee southeast of Yancopin. Perhaps the most damage was found just west of Kelso. There, a large metal farm shop was destroyed with parts of the shop found more than 6 miles away. Near the shop, there were grain carts thrown at least a third of a mile. A large combine and several truck tractors were destroyed. One tractor trailer was overturned. Also near the shop, a pickup track was mangled with several large farm implements thrown, overturned or destroyed. The tornado travelled about 42 miles before dissipating 5 miles northeast of Snow Lake.

Began near Reed (33.6833, -91.4333).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5233460. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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