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F2 tornado in Swisher County, Texas

Tornado May 5, 2002 · Swisher County, Texas

F2
Rating
10.0 mi
Whole path
150 yd
Path width
2
Deaths
4
Injuries
$4.0M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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

Storm chaser video indicated that shortly after the large tornado dissipated, another tornado developed just west of town. This tornado tore a 150-yard wide path across the southern part of town. Fifteen homes were destroyed, including at least ten mobile homes, another seventeen received major damage, and eighteen others received minor damage. The storm survey team estimated wind speeds associated with the damage to be in the 115 to 130 mph range. Two fatalities occurred in a mobile home on the southeast side of town; the mobile home was rolled about 50 yards and destroyed. Four injuries also occurred in mobile homes that were in the same area. The church on the west side of town lost 120 feet of its roof and 30 vehicles, including two tractor trailers, were damaged or destroyed. Seventy five utility and telephone poles were snapped. The tornado crossed I-27 and continued to produce significant damage east of town as it struck a home two miles east of Happy on Farm-to-Market Road 1075. Before crossing into southern Randall County about three miles east of Happy, the tornado produced major damage to a second home on Farm-to-Market Road 1075.

Began near Happy (34.7333, -101.8500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F1 Hall CountyF1 Hall CountyF1 Hall CountyF0 Castro CountyF0 Swisher CountyF0 Hall County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5296441. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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