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F3 tornado in Ford County, Kansas

Tornado May 7, 2002 · Ford County, Kansas

F3
Rating
5.9 mi
Whole path
900 yd
Path width
$150K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 900 yards (0.51 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 became quite large as it moved at first to the southwest and then turned southeast. The tornado completely stripped topsoil from one field and debarked trees at a pond. Several dozen cattle were killed with several 1500 pound heifers carried 3/4 of a mile. Two other tornadoes crossed nearly the same location within an hour, which may have contributed to the scouring of the topsoil.

Began near Windthorst (37.7167, -99.5667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F3 Kiowa CountyF3 Ford CountyF2 Kiowa CountyF2 Pratt CountyF1 Kiowa CountyF1 Kiowa CountyF1 Pratt CountyF1 Ford CountyF0 Ford CountyF0 Edwards CountyF0 Edwards CountyF0 Clark CountyF0 Pratt CountyF0 Ford County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5300201. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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