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F2 tornado in Gallia County, Ohio

Tornado May 8, 2002 · Gallia County, Ohio

F2
Rating
3.0 mi
Path length
80 yd
Path width
3
Injuries
$3.5M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 80 yards (0.05 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

A warm frontal boundary interacted with a complex of showers and thunderstorms to form a tornado on the southern flank of the precipitation. Touchdown was along Adamsville Road near Route 35. The roof was ripped off a home, 2 mobile homes were destroyed, along with a pole barn. The tornado then struck both rest areas on Route 35. The rest building on the north side of the highway was severely damaged. At least 2 tractor trailers were flipped over, while others parked in the lot, were damaged. Another mobile home near the rest stop was destroyed. Proceeding just east to Dewey Road, the tornado wiped a modular home off its foundation. A trailer was destroyed at the corner of Kerr and Viney Roads. Down Kerr Road, a home had its roof removed and a mobile home was moved off its foundation. On Fairview Road, another mobile home was damaged. What was amazing and fortunate, in just about all the cases, no one was home when the tornado struck. Three people were injured at the rest stop.

Began near Adamsville (38.8667, -82.3500).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5291148. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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