F2 tornado — Bowie County, Texas

F2 tornado in Bowie County, Texas

Tornado May 14, 2003 · Bowie County, Texas

Rating

78.3 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

$250K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through McCurtain County, Oklahoma → Bowie County → Cass County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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 violent thunderstorm moved rapidly southeast across McCurtain County, OK into Bowie County, TX and Cass County, TX. This thunderstorm also produced a strong microburst in McCurtain County southwest of Idabel, OK and again southeast of Maud, TX, located in Bowie County. Numerous trees and limbs were snapped or pushed over along the entire track. Several homes, mobile homes, barns, garages, and outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed. The primary damage from this event occurred southeast of Maud, TX and was also associated with a microburst with wind speeds approaching 100 mph. The microburst occurred along the east side of the tornado track.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5353103. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F2 tornado in Bowie County, Texas

What the National Weather Service wrote

Tornadoes near your address