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F3 tornado in Clay County, Iowa

Tornado June 11, 2004 · Clay County, Iowa

Rating

6.0 mi

Path length

400 yd

Path width

$50K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 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 large cone shaped tornado tore a steel bridge from a road. The tornado raised a large debris cloud as it moved over open country, causing damage to crops and power lines. The tornado moved into Clay County after forming just south of the County Line.

Began near Webb (42.9167, -95.0500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F0 Buena Vista County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5409522. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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