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F2 tornado in Woods County, Oklahoma

Tornado April 17, 2002 – April 18, 2002 · Woods County, Oklahoma

F2
Rating
15.0 mi
Path length
880 yd
Path width
1
Injury
$35K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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 is a continuation of the tornado that moved out of Major County at 0032 CST. The tornado curved to the right as it crossed the Cimarron River and moved northeastward for 15 miles before entering Alfalfa County at 0005 CST on April 18th. In Woods County, about 2 miles southwest of the intersection of State Highway 45 and the Woods County line, the roof of a trailer house was completely removed, and an exterior wall on the northeast side of the house was badly damaged and partially removed from the structure. The owner of the house received minor abrasions to his arm. Across the road from the house, a barn was unroofed, and most of the walls were destroyed. Otherwise, only tree damage was observed across Woods County.

The wider storm

Numerous severe thunderstorms were observed over western Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening of the 17th and early morning of the 18th. Four tornadoes were confirmed, and there were several reports of very large hail, even one report of softball size hail (4.5 inches in diameter). The tornadoes were at night with the largest tornado, believed to be up to one mile wide, causing a maximum of F2 damage over a 34 mile path across northwest Oklahoma. Another tornado resulted in F3 damage.

Began near Waynoka (36.4833, -98.7500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5287529. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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