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F4 tornado in Seward County, Nebraska

Tornado June 13, 2001 · Seward County, Nebraska

Rating

8.0 mi

Path length

400 yd

Path width

Injuries

$1.0M

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 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 slow moving tornado tracked from south of Seward to just east of town with a total track length of 8 miles. The tornado was caught on film by several chasers. The tornado destroyed an entire farmstead and a propane and anhydrous ammonia tank farm and machine shed. Several vehicles were tumbled and tossed into a field across from the farm house. The tornado was at its maximum intensity at the farmstead it destroyed. Northeast of highway 34 the tornado struck several sheds and barns.

Began near Ruby (40.8500, -97.0833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5254373. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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