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F3 tornado in Linn County, Iowa

Tornado May 21, 2004 · Linn County, Iowa

Rating

3.0 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

$250K

Damage as recorded

$50K

Crop damage

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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

Rated F3 with winds estimated at 175 mph.

The wider storm

Tornado developed just east of the Benton-Linn County Line Road and moved Northeast to Palo. The tornado initially caused damage to a farm 2 miles southwest of Palo where a garage and 3 outbuildings were destroyed. As it approached Palo, another farm was severely damaged where the roof and walls were torn off a house and a car was lofted 50 feet. The tornado continued across the southern edge of Palo where it destroyed a mobile home.

Began near Palo (42.0500, -91.8167).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5416450. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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