Home / Kansas / Osage

F3 tornado in Osage County, Kansas

Tornado May 8, 2003 · Osage County, Kansas

Rating

25.0 mi

Path length

800 yd

Path width

$1.5M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 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 second tornado touched down in Osage county about 13 miles southwest of Lyndon and moved northeast for 25 miles before dissipating 6 miles south of Overbrook. The tornado was a half mile wide in places and did considerable damage to farm buildings, machinery, and fences along its path.

Began near Osage City (38.5833, -95.7500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F1 Osage County F0 Coffey County F0 Douglas County F0 Osage County F0 Osage County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5359697. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.