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F1 tornado in Woodward County, Oklahoma

Tornado April 17, 2002 · Woodward County, Oklahoma

Rating

8.0 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

$30K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Dewey County → Woodward County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

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 F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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 is a continuation of the tornado that exited Dewey County at 2241 CST. In Woodward County, a well constructed metal barn, 40 x 60 ft, cemented to the ground, was picked up and moved about 3.5 ft. Also, hay bales were blown around, and trees were damaged.

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 Mutual (36.1667, -99.0833).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Woods County F2 Alfalfa County F1 Beckham County F0 Major County F0 Alfalfa County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5287530. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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