F3 tornado — St. Joseph County, Indiana

F3 tornado in St. Joseph County, Indiana

Tornado October 24, 2001 · St. Joseph County, Indiana

Rating

47.0 mi

Whole path

1,320 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$8.8M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through St. Joseph County → Berrien County, Michigan → Cass County, Michigan → St. Joseph County, Michigan; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,320 yards (0.75 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

This tornado touched down just southwest of Crumstown in St Joseph county Indiana and moved northeast into Berrien county Michigan (see Storm Data for Michigan, Extreme Southwest for more information on the end portion of this tornado). In St Joseph county Indiana the most significant damage was across Crumstown, where F3 damage with a path width up to 3/4 mile occurred. The tornado then moved to near the Michiana Regional Airport and across the Indiana Turnpike causing F0-F1 damage. Two men were injured northwest of South Bend. One man later died from his injuries. The tornado moved into Berrien county Michigan 6 miles NNW of South Bend.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5270577. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F3 tornado in St. Joseph County, Indiana

What the National Weather Service wrote

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