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F3 tornado in Faulkner County, Arkansas

Tornado December 18, 2002 · Faulkner County, Arkansas

Rating

9.8 mi

Path length

150 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

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 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

A strong tornado was spawned over Faulkner County about 1 mile north of Hamlet. The tornado moved to the northeast for approximately 9.8 miles before lifting 0.8 mile east-southeast of Enola. A number of homes, both permanent and mobile, were either damaged or destroyed along the path of the tornado. An 84 year-old woman was killed when her mobile home was destroyed. 13 others sustained injuries. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down. A power substation was also damaged.

Began near Hamlet (35.1000, -92.3167).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5324258. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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